Que Clavo! (What a nail!) Luis Tenorio Rosales, 2010, acrylic on
canvas
As I indicated in a previous post, this painting of the crucifixion is one
of the most evocative works of art I’ve seen. The intense face of a T-shirt
clad man as he nails the feet of Jesus Christ to the cross leaves no
illusions that this a contemporary work of art of an age old religious
subject that has roots in Christian history. Is this man just a carpenter
doing his work or is he a symbol of the sins we commit everyday that lodge
the nails deeper with every transgression? What a nail!
Aguila (Eagle), Javier Calvo Sandi, 2017, stone
The Eagle is a monument representing both the former president, Leon
Cortés, and the Nazi eagle. According to Calvo Sandi, President Cortés had
an affinity with the Nazi Party of Costa Rica having appointed Max Effiger,
the president of the local Nazi party, as his adviser on immigration
matters.
The eagle is also a symbol of flight. “I fly like an eagle in granite
material that vindicates the indigenism of the nationalist discourse of the
new sensibility and the Costa Rican animalistic tradition.” Further he said,
“a Nazi eagle in a Creole material synthesizes the conceptual or historical
contradiction with which we later based our entire national identity.”
Los Poderes (The Powers), Alvaro Bracci Ramelli, 1983, acrylic on canvas
Alvaro Bracci Ramelli is an Italian industrial engineer who moved to Costa
Rica in 1970. His works are defined by its geometric and symmetrical
composition. He portrays his subjects with a mechanical characteristic found
in orthogonal, industrial and graphic designs.
In Los Poderes, Bracci has divided the panels in multiples of 3. Three
square panels with 3 identifiable figures: the military with its brown
uniform, the politician with his tie and the cleric in a Catholic bishop’s
robe. Notice the mechanical repetition and the decomposition of
figures into geometric units on the third panel.
Untitled, Rafael Ángel Garcia Picado, 1974, acrylic on wood
From the series, Ciudades espontáneas (Spontaneous Cities)
‘Felo’ Garcia is a visual artist, architect, former professional soccer
player and professor of fine arts. He served in various governmental
positions like Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes, Ministerio de La
Cultura y Juventud and was the first director of the School of Architecture
at the University of Costa Rica, among others. This painting is of an
informal settlement known as tugurios that were found in the
outskirts of the metropolitan city of San Jose. The artist experiments
with the abstract forms of wooden houses accentuating square windows,
hanging laundry, the geometric forms running down to the basement and linear
electric power cables.
Fibonacci (from the Copistas series), Adrian Arguedas Ruano, 2008, oil
on wood
Adrian Arguedas Ruano grew up in Barca de Heredia, a small town well
known for its mask making. As a child, he learned to make masks under
the tutelage of his uncle who was a mask maker.
In Arguedas’ Fibonacci, two rows of mini paintings are arranged on a
board, three on the first row and five on the second row. The term,
fibonacci, refers to a sequence of numbers wherein each subsequent
number is the sum of the previous two. In the center of the first row, there is a painting of a man with
a firearm facing the elephant. The shooting is echoed in the bottom row.
If the subsequent number is the sum of the previous two, then a shooter
+ elephant = the scenes on the bottom row of mini paintings, in this case, the shooting of Kennedy(?)
as he parades down the street with Jackie Kennedy (in pink) in an open
convertible. (Unfortunately, I didn’t have the leisure to read the
caption of this particular work. The deductions I make here regarding the connection of Fibonacci with the fibonacci sequence of numbers are strictly my own.)😅
Cinema 2000, Oscar Soto, acrylic and tempera on canvas
Oscar Soto is an architect specializing in scenographic designs. His works
have been seen on stage at the National Theater and at the Teatro Popular
Melico Salazar and in commercials, musical videos and corporate ads. Soto’s
works were selected by the Museum as part of its program to revitalize the
local arts scene by displaying the selected artists’ works in the Museum’s
temporary gallery. The theme of this exhibit is
Imaginarios de congestión.
The Sculpture Garden
Imagen Cosmica (Cosmic Vision), Jose Jiménez Deredia, Carrara marble
The Sculpture Garden at the Museum was designed by Jiménez Deredia in 2004.
The garden sits on the eastern border of La Sabana, the largest park in
Costa Rica. Jiménez Deredia has the distinction to have one of his works,
Saint Marcellin Champagnat, occupy an enviable space at St. Peters’s
Basilica in the Vatican. He’s the only non European to have done
so.
Jiménez Deredia recounts how as a child he would visit the National
Museum of San Jose where he found on display, gigantic stone spheres
attributed to the extinct Diquís culture and how these same spheres have
inspired him and his works. In Cosmic Vision, there are four vertically
aligned spheres that vary in size. Perhaps the meaning of these spheres
may be explained through his 2019 sculpture exhibition in San Jose
entitled, The Force and Universality of the Sphere. According
to the brochure, Jiménez Deredia wants to “convey a world view of the spherical nature of life” and “that a piece of sculpture leads us to become aware that we are stardust in
transmutation”.
“Who does not know the ancestors that inhabit it is destined to walk in
the dark.” Jiménez Deredia
Tres Mujeres Caminando (Three Women Walking ), Francisco Zuñiga
In the background is the Monumento al Agricultor (Monument to the Farmer),
also by Francisco Zuñiga.
Zuñiga was born in Costa Rica to parents who were both sculptors and from
whom he learned the art of sculpting in his favorite medium, bronze and
stone. During his 20s, he left Costa Rica to study at the Escuela de Bellas
Artes in Mexico where he lived until his death in 1998. Zúñiga’s 1981
Tres Mujeres Caminando, edition of 4, was sold at Sotheby’s in 2006
for a staggering sum of $1,024,000.
I’ve included this figure of a woman who occupies a prominent space at the
entrance to the museum. She sits with dignified composure, watching people
come into the museum. Sadly, I could not find the provenance of this piece.
The Golden Room
This mural depicts the history of Costa Rica after it regained its
independence from Spain. Luis Féron Parizot, a French artist who lived in Costa Rica for ten years,
carved the bas reliefs in stucco and painted them in bronze. In this
particular panel, the sculptor shows the progression of education and learning and the hard work
by Costarricenses to build infrastructure across the country.
Central Nave of the Museum
Old Airport Terminal now the MAC
The old international airport was built in 1940 and operated until 1955. It
was designed by the architect, Jose Maria Barrantes Monge, in 1937 in the
neocolonial style. It became the home of the Museum of Costa Rican Art in
1978. The Museum has a collection of 6,400 works of art and is worth a
visit. I wish we had more time at the museum. I would have loved to linger
and learn more about the talented and exceptional Costa Rican artists.
Bonus: entrance is free!!!
How to get there: Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC), Calle 42, La Sabana, San Jose. Entrance is free. Closed Mondays. www.mac.go.cr
*****
Images by TravelswithCharie
