Cristina Costantini Photo
“A vejigante is a contradiction,” said artist Pablo Juan Garcia. Originally created in order to strike fear in the hearts of conquistadors, vejigantes are masks which are now used to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and unity during carnival season. With protruding horns and over-sized teeth, the vejigantes are certainly menacing. When painted with pastels and polka dots, and worn by salsa-dancing party-goers, however, the grotesque vejigante becomes festive and comical. These contradictions, along with contradictions Garcia has discovered in U.S.-Puerto Rican political history, have informed much of his work.
The opening of Garcia’s “Vejigantes de Ponce” exhibition kicked off Arte Inc.‘s 2010 Hispanic Heritage Events on Friday. The events run for weeks to come.
At the Arte Gallery in Fair Haven, young, old, Latino, and gringo filed through the exhibit, marveling at the vibrant papier-mache masks, photos, and paper-collages inspired by the vejigante festivals of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Midway through the event, the crowd moved outside where dance instructor Sarahi Ayala Osorio led her students in the Bomba which she described as “a traditional Afro-Puerto Rican dance”.
Sarahi Ayala Osorio
The idea of the vejigante as a contradiction has inspired most of Garcias work. The exhibit was dedicated to Garcia’s brother, Tomas Gonzalez, who passed away three years ago. Like the vejigantes, Garcia’s brother was also a contradiction.
“He was my vejigante. The vejigante is a scary monster, a character with these big teeth, but kids aren’t scared of it, its very mischievous, but not malevolent. It’s a character that likes to have fun but always seems to find trouble. Just like my brother,” said Garcia.
Artist Pablo Juan Garcia at Carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Although Garcia has been fixated with the masked monsters since his childhood, he credits his brother for bringing him to incorporate the vejigantes in his art. “This whole thing started because I was in Puerto Rico to spread his ashes, and my daughter and I went to the carnaval on the last day of our trip.” This experience brought Garcia to fall in love with the figures all over again. “My daughter and I were like two little kids, just enthralled by the vejigantes”, Garcia said.
The contradictions of his split American-Puerto Rican heritage and the contradictions of U.S. political influence in Puerto Rico have also informed Garcia’s paper-collage pieces. Although Garcia was born in Puerto Rico, he moved to Hartford, Connecticut as a young child, only returning to the island during his summers. “The works started as pieces about putting my American and Puerto Rican self together, but when I started doing research about American and Puerto Rican history, they became political,” said Garcia. The more research Garcia did to inform his work, the more he found “a history which wasn’t taught in school”.
…And justice for all. - 28”x40” paper collage
“I didn’t really want them to be political originally, but the more research I did the more my works took on political undertones,” said Garcia. Through his research, Garcia became fascinated with the establishment of Puerto Rico as a commonwealth of the United States in 1952. In his collages he attempted to bring up questions of Puerto Rican imprisonment, equality, and independence; ideas which are seldom discussed among Puerto Rican-American communities in the United States, according to the artist. His paper collage “…And justice for all.”, which depicts Lady Liberty wearing a vejigante mask, was inspired by Puerto Rican independence fighter Lolita Lebron. Lebron was pardoned by Jimmy Carter after twenty five years of imprisonment for her participation in the Jayula Uprising and attacks on United States House of Representatives in 1954.
“Growing up in the States, no one ever educated me about this part of my history, or the history of Puerto Rico,” said Garcia. Garcia hoped that his works will help teach Puerto Rican children part of a history of contradictions that he was never told.
The exhibit is open through Oct. 22, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment during the week. A guide or the artist himself will be leading tours of the exhibition for school groups during the week. To make reservations contact 203.787.2783 or visit the website at www.arte-inc.com. The exhibit was made possible by the support of Arte Inc., Knights of Columbus, Wachovia, and Comcast.
I went to this opening on Friday, what a fantastic event! I have to say this was by far the best exhibit opening I have ever attended! Incredible art, great entertainment, fantastic food, wine and even tropical flavored ice cream. I could not believe how many people were there. I would guess there was more than 200 people attending. Arte sure knows how to plan events and throw a party! I'll be sure to check out their other events and attend as many as possible.