ARTE DOMINICANO

 

HUMOR E IRONÍA EN LAS PINTURAS DE

JOSÉ GARCÍA CORDERO

FERNANDO UREÑA RIB



ENGLISH

 

Jose Garcia Cordero, Pintor Dominicano oriundo de Montecristi

 

 

Tórridas, perversas, punzantes y deliciosamente geniales, son las pinturas que José García Cordero expuso en la galería Freites Revilla, de Coral Gables. No son divertimentos, viñetas ni apologías del humor negro.

Fíjese bien. No es que un anzuelo atraviese minuciosamente el lomo de la piel de la carnada. García Cordero se deleita en mostrarnos la incisión, el lento recorrido del pinchazo. La carnada ensartada está viva, nos mira con sorna, nos saca los dientes como una piraña y se retuerce. El horror, el vértigo de la víctima, es su única venganza posible.

García Cordero conoce el poder de la imagen y lo manipula a su antojo. Sabe que no bastan las "buenas ideas", que el tema no importa tanto como la manera particular y única en que es tratado. La eficiencia de la ¨"manera" es la que otorga trascendencia y vitalidad a sus obras.

Trátese de pescados a la parrilla, de forúnculos pilosos, de la "Lomita del Che o de los ojos desorbitados de perros delirantes . Cualquier objeto jadea con ojos humanos. Los pescados se aferran desesperadamente a la sartén . 

El objeto cobra vida y acusa al hombre de pecados de infamia. El paisaje se torna en amenaza y los puntiagudos ramajes de árboles desnudos arañan el insondable viento huracanado y marino.

En cada imagen se construye un diálogo o trepida una confrontación. García Cordero nos recuerda que si el asombro es difícil, aun es posible el espanto.

Fernando Ureña Rib

 

 

 

GARCÍA CORDERO by Shriley Gottlieb
Dividing his time between one studio in Santo Domingo and another in Paris, José García Cordero creates large-scale, "double entendre" paintings that reflect both the duality of his personal experience and the conflicts between European and Caribbean culture.

Also an eloquent poet/philosopher, this Dominican Republic native is inspired by Latin American authors as much as by visual artists. One glance at the 23 large-scale paintings in Situaciones Humanas/Human Conditions and you instantly feel the influence of Goya, Bruegel and Bosch--not to mention Magritte and Francis Bacon. Then when you look a little closer, you can see the visual equivalent of Jorge Borges' and Gabriel Marquez' style of writing.

To create his astonishing imagery, Cordero relies on the viewer's ability to respond to symbolic metaphor, allegory, irony and biting satire--plus both magic and social surrealism. Not only does he repeatedly depict himself treading water in dangerous territory, he also paints scores of sad-eyed little dogs in threatening life and death situations.

In Boat People IV, for example, the terrified dogs float on a raft through blood-red, shark-infested waters; while in Round Trip they swim for their lives through the fiery forests of hell.

It soon becomes evident that the self-portraits and the dogs are stand-ins for you, me and Everyman. Since there is no escape from the traumatic tribulations of life, we must survive anyway that we can.

In The Watchtower Cordero paints hundreds of eyes in the shape of a flesh-colored mound. Underneath it he inscribes: "The Watchtower is the watch that you don't watch me. . .absolute vigilance. . .the ancestral 'eye-for-an-eye' that reviews the present. . .at once the 'punish me punisher' and the 'punisher punished.'"

In the haunting landscape Only the Fillets Matter hundreds of fish heads are piled in front of dead trees that are silhouetted against the sky. "When the fish in the sea are gone" (he writes, making a socio-ecological statement), "the heads go to the pier in Punta Popa. . .where they are sold to the poor for soup."

By contrast, tourists on cruise ships that visit the Caribbean feast on the lavish assortment of island delicacies that Cordero paints in Still Life: Popa Beach House Interior II. (Observant viewers will notice the hungry dog hiding under the table waiting for any crumbs that come his way.)

Also included in Situaciones Humanas are several brown barren landscapes that carry serious subtexts. To wit: What eco-global conditions would cause a tropical island to become a lifeless desert?

Self Portrait in the Pool of Auvergne seems to sum things up. Submerged in a large ceramic pot (with only his eyes peering out from the water), Cordero tries to relax after an exhausting day of painting disturbing scenes that others will view at their leisure.

"I see for them," he says. "I look for them, decipher for them, and interpret things symbolically in the name of everyone."

He then concludes: "Dogs, baracudas, cultures of circumstances and delights. . .[my work depicts] situations that affect the nervous system and provoke laughter, astonishment and agitation. It's all about irony--a double-edged sword with which one says the opposite of what is meant."

Never mind if you've never heard of José García Cordero before (this is his first solo museum exhibit in the United States); once you enter the dangerous, double-edged world of his creative imagination in Situaciones Humanas, you will never forget him.

Shirley Gottlieb

 

LA OBRA DE UREÑA RIB

CUENTOS

LA INICIACIÓN

CELAJES

MALENANORADA

EL NAHUAL

PULPO A LA GALLEGA

LA PORTEÑA

LA TOSCANA

LA PUTANA DE PERPIGNAN

LA TORRE VIGILADA

LA SOLUCIÓN EN EL OMBLIGO

LA VENUS DE TABOGA

LA SALAMANDRA

VIENTOS DEL NORTE

LA VINDICACIÓN DE OMAR

EL ABRAZO

DEL LIBRO FÁBULAS URBANAS

OBRA PICTÓRICA

ABSTRACCIONES

AMAZONAS

CRISÁLIDAS

DIBUJOS

FIGURACIONES

FORTUNA

ONÍRICA

LÚDICA

ORÁCULOS

OBRAS

OTOÑO

PERIPLOS

DADORAS

NINFAS

OCEÁNICA

ORGÁNICA

TRES MISTERIOS SALINOS

NOCHES DE JAZZ

DANZAS BAJO LA LLUVIA

LA ÚLTIMA METAMORFOSIS

ETAPAS NECESARIAS DE UNA TRANSICIÓN PICTÓRICA

EL DESNUDO DE FERNANDO UREÑA RIB

DESNUDOS ESTILIZADOS

DECIR LA PIEL

FÁBULAS URBANAS

ONIRISMO

LAS NINFAS

 

DEL LIBRO DECIR LA PIEL

BIOGRAFÍA


PINTORES DOMINICANOS

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Ureña Rib has seen his work exhibited around the World and holds a prominent position on the Art scene in his own country, but he admits to be particularly drawn to Montreal, which he visits annually. Renting a studio in the downtown Belgo Building, he immerses himself enthusiastically in the creative and diverse atmosphere of Montreal producing here his works.

FERNANDO URENA RIB

ART STUDIO

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

 

 

Revisado: May 06, 2008
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