NU E vA LDZ
a
photographic j ou r pal
Summer Issue 1986
$3
NUEVA L U Z Vol 1 No. 3, 1986
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photographic j o u r T) a 1 Editor Charles Biasiny-Rivera Assistant Editor Betty Wilde Designer/Art Director Frank Gimpaya Translator Jose Ortiz Marerro Promotion and Advertising Steve Raddock, Associates East Coast Distributors Total Circulation Services West Coast Distributors Cornucopia Typography Ortiz Typographies Printing Expedi Press Nueva Luz (ISSN 0887-3833)is a photographic journal published by En Foco, Inc. 32 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, New York 10468, (212) 384-7718. Single issue price is $3.00, yearly subscrip tion is $10.00 in the U.S. In all other countries, single issue price is $3.00, yearly subscription is $18.00. Portfolios ofat least 13 unmountedprints or copy slides may be submitted for viewing. If mailed, the printf may be no larger than 11”X14”. A selfaddressed stamped envelope and appropriate packag ing must accompany all mailed portfolios to insure proper return. We do not assume responsibility for un solicited photographs or manuscripts sent by mail. Photographers wishing to deliver portfolios in person must call our office to make arrangements. For adver tising rates and distribution contact En Foco, Inc.
Copyright © 1986 by En Foco, Inc. All Rights Reserved Nueva Luz is made possible with funding by the New York City Department ofCultural Affairs, Bronx Borough President, Stanley Simon, New York State Council on the Arts, Bronx Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agen-
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Editorial Pa £ e ot long ago I was going over some of my photographs and came across one that appeared in the 1st Latin Ameri can Photography Coloquial in Mexico City in 1978. The pic ture taken on a Bronx street on an overcast afternoon is ofa Black American father standing over his young son, gently put ting a Batman mask over the boy’s face. Black heroes were yet to be identified. As a teenager I remember the special excite ment when our gang saw the movie Cyrano De Bergerac. Jose Ferrer played the lead----he was the only Puerto Rican leading man we knew of. Mentors are an important part of growth, they help to shape andfocus direction, they establish role models that give one a sense ofdestiny and suggest that there's some larger pur pose to one's being. They remindyou that you are in the pro cess of creating your own history and that that history should be a contribution to your culture. Mentors serve as an instru ment through which the best parts of the society get passed on, most often not knowing that they are mentors. I have a feeling that within the pages ofNueva Luz mentors are being formed, that an awareness ofthese artists and their visions will establish the much neededphotographic seers for their cultures.
o hace mucho que estudiaba algunas de mis fotografias y encontre una que se exhibio en el Primer Coloquio Latinoamericano de Fotografia que se llevo a cabo en Ciudad Mejico en el 1978. La foto, sacada en una calle del Bronx durante una tarde nublada, nos muestra a un padre negro norteamericano de pie frente a su hijo mientras le coloca una mascara de Batman sobre la cara. No habia entonces heroes negros con quien identificarse. Recuerdo en mi adolescencia la emocion especial que sintio nuestra ganga al ver la pelicula Cyrano de Bergerac. Jose Ferrer representaba el papel del personaje principal ...el era el unico primer actor puertorriqueno que concociamos. Los mentores constituyen una parte integral del crecimiento. Ayudan a formary a poner en foco nuestro camino. El ejemplo de ellos nos da un sentido de destino y nos sugiere que hay un proposito mayor en nuestras vidas. Ellos nos recuerdan que estamos en elproceso de crear nuestra propria historia, y que esa historia debe contribuir a nuestra cultura. Los men tores sirven de instrumentos a traves de los cuales se transmiten los mejores aspectos de nuestra sociedad\ aun cuando muchas veces ellos no se percaten del hecho de que son mentores. Me parece que dentro de estas pdginas de Nueva Luz se estdn creando mentores; que un reconocimiento de estos artistas y sus visiones ayudard a establecer a los profetas fotogrdficos de sus culturas.
Charles Biasiny-Rivera Editor
Charles Biasiny-Rivera Editor
Table of Coplept? Editorial.................... Frank Gimpaya Frank Xavier Mendez Julio Piedra............. Commentary............. Comentario................
.........page 1 .pages 2-11 pages 12-21 pages 12-31 . . .page32 . . .page33
Cover Photographs: Prank Gimpaya, “Forks", New York, 1980, _53/4 ”x 8}A ”
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Frapk Giippaya
Frank Gimpaya graduatedfrom Hunter College with a BFA in painting. He started taking photographs in the early 70's. He has taughtphotography, design andart history at Lehman Col lege, Bronx Community College and Boricua College, New York. Selected solo exhibitions include: Cayman Gallery, New York; Casa Aboy, Miramar, Puerto Rico; “Images From The South Bronx”, Bronx Community College Gallery, New York; The Fourth Street Photo Gallery, New York, and the Exposure Gallery, New York. Selected group exhibitions include: “Nueva Vison”, Paris, France; Galerie Triangle, Washington, D. C. ; “Tercer Coloquio Latinoamericano de Fotografia”, Casa de las Americas, Habana, Cuba; “La Fotografia”, Venice, Italy; Museo de Arte Modemo, Mexico City; “Autorretratos”, and “La Familia”, El Museo Del Barrio, New York. Gimpaya is a recipient of a CAPS grant. Aside from doing free-lance photography and graphic design he is teaching children photography in the South Bronx in the Public School System through the Bronx Council on The Arts and Arts Partners.
“The images evoke for me a special relationship among objects and their immediate environments. My perspective allows the subjects ofmy imagery to lose their true sense ofscale because I perceive the objects as impressions from the comers of my eyes. ”
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Frapk Girppaya
Movie Theater, New York, 1980, 5 % � x 8hA "
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Frapk Giippaya
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The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1980, 5 % ”x 8V\ ”
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Frarjk Girppaya
Movie Theater Lobby, New York, 1980, 5 3/4 � x 83A "
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Frapk Giippaya
Clinton Hollow, New York, 1983, 3 3/4 ”x 8Va ”
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Frapk Girrjpaya
Oaxaca, Mejico, 1980, 5 % ” x 8 V\ ”
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Frapk Giiripaya
Ehering’s Restaurant, New York, 1981, 53/4 ”x <S3/4 "
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Frarjk Giippaya
New York City, 1980, 5 3/4 â&#x20AC;? x 5% "
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Frapk Giiripaya
New York City, 1980,
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Frapk Girrjpaya
New York City, 1980,
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Frapk X. Mei)dez
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Frank X. Mendez graduatedfrom Parsons School ofDesign in 1966. Selectedgroup exhibitions include: The Museum ofThe University of Puerto Rico; “La Gran Pasion”, The New Museum of Contemporary Art; “Autorretratos”, El Museo Del Barrio, New York; Aperture Gallery, Austin, Texas; “Mujer”, McGraw-Hill Pavillion, New York; “View of Seeing", Niekrug Gallery, New York. Selectedgroup exhibitions include: Zoom Photo Gallery, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico; Galleria Nadar, Pisa, Italy, and Discovery Gallery, New York. Mendez is a CAPS recipient. His photographs are in the collections of: El Museo Del Barrio, New York; Hostos Community College, Bronx, New York; Puerto Rican Center for the Arts, New York; En Foco Inc., Bronx, New York, and the Aperture Gal lery, Austin, Texas. He is currently documenting the coast of Pastillo, Isabela, Puerto Rico.
“By profession lamafree-lance graphic designer but devote all ofmy freetime to various personal long term photography pro jects. Igot interested in photography when I was in my late thir ties. The fact that I began taking photographs relatively late in life isfor me, I think an advantage. Photography requires enor mous commitment, discipline, skill, luck, and the ability to be totally involved and honest to the photographic image. Photography is both a satisfaction andfrustration and the process of taking pictures excites me. I take the trouble to see things around me and keep photographs simple and direct. I never specialize in any one area and my technique is very sim ple, basically it has not changed since Ifirst started taking pic tures. ”
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Frapk X. Mcpdez
Bayamon cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1977, 7V\ â&#x20AC;?x 7Vi
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Frapk X. Mepdez
Old San Juan cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1973, 7Va â&#x20AC;? x 7 V,2
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Frapk X. Mepdez
Trujillo Alto cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1983, 7 Vi â&#x20AC;?x IVi
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Frapk X. Merjdez
Comerio cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1975, 7V4 â&#x20AC;?x 7Vi
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Frapk X. Mendez
Guanica cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1980, 7 lA â&#x20AC;?x7 Vi
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Frapk X. Mepdcz
Bega Baja cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1979, 7lA "x 7Vi
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Frapk X. Mcpdez
Guanica cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1983, 7V4â&#x20AC;?x7V4
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Frapk X. Merjdez
Santa Isabel cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1983, 7 V* â&#x20AC;?x 7 Vi
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Frarjk X. Mepdcz
Caguas cemetery, Puerto Rico, 1983, 7Va â&#x20AC;?x 7 Vi
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Julio Piedra
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As a dancer, Julio Piedra's interest in photography evolved while collaborating with photographers on lighting and design concepts. Working with the National Film Board of Canada further exposed him to thefilm medium and increased his con tacts with cameramen. He received his formal training in pho tography at The School of Visual Arts, New York. Selected group exhibitions include: “La Gran Pasion”, an En Foco ex hibition at The New Museum of Contemporary Art. Selected solo exhibitions include The Bronx Museum. His works are in cluded in the collections ofthe Brooklyn Museum; CarlJ. Lana Design, New York, and Phil Marco Productions, New York. He is represented by The Virginia Miller/Artspace Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida.
“It is in fact that the available light has in most instances been the object of these studies. To capture the emotional quality, the lingering mood or the “chiaroscuro” of an elusive moment. Flowers, because oftheir inherent beauty andcasualsensitivity, have been the perfect union with the movement and space of light. As technique is acquired empirically or through craft, the elements of creativity blossom. Greatly enhanced when the mysteries of emulsion, exposure and development have been decoded. A departure from reality is then possible. This allur ing state guides my work towards the image fantasy. An image ofsuspended hues. ”
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Julio Picdra
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Flower Series, 1983, 73/4 ”x 10”
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Julio Piedra
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Peonies in Chinese Tubular Vase, 1983, 73/4 ” x 10”
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Julio Piedra
Spider Mum, 1983, 7¥k”xl0”
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Julio Piedra
Magnolia in Raku Vase, 1983, 73A"xlOâ&#x20AC;?
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Julio Piedra
Tea Roses, 1983, 7%”x 10”
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Julio Piedra
Double Magnolias in Cordial Glass, 1982, 7V* ”x 10”
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Julio Piedra
Tulips in Copper Vase, 1983, 73/i "x 10â&#x20AC;?
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Julio Piedra
Tea Rose, 1983, 7% ”x 10”
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Julio Piedra
Tulips with their Shadows, 1983, 7% ” x 10”
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c o
c i) t ary
hose populations bom of immigrants have traditionally been faced with the vexing problem of roots. New cultures do not melt easily into the pot but tend\ rather, to hang like particles in an emulsion. Similar to the position of the immigrants are artists who find themselves rooted in cultures other than the American white middle class, who are often faced with the dilemma of modi fying themselves for a wider acceptance. Frank Xavier Mendez returned to his roots by settling in Puerto Rico. He was bom and raised in New York City and after his graduation from the High School ofIndustrial Arts joined that most American of institutions, the Marine Corps. Discharged because of injuries sustained in an accident, he resumed his studies but at the Parsons School ofDesign, where he took a course in photography. Mendez used to make portraits offriends and acquaintances but evidently time was also his sub ject for he would often photograph the same people twice, years apart. Time plays an even greater part in these shots ofPuerto Rican cemeteries and not only in the sense that death itselfis time, with a vengeance. In an earlier photograph by Mendez, a man sitting on a new grave holding flowers, the wall behind him stencilled with the word “Propiedad" and two angels, marks time; shrubs growing out ofan archway, as they do out of the ruins in Piranesi's etchings ofancient Rome, romanticize it. The photographer has an acute eye for art—the polychromed heads ofa Virgin and Child pro truding from a blank wall, the primitive outline ofa crucifix that is painted on a cross with such tender regardfor anatomy. But most ofall it is the cemetery as a reprise of Puerto Rican history that engrosses Mendez. The one professional photographer in the group, Prank Gimpaya, also teaches art, which may ex plain his somewhat Abstract Expressionist approach to photography. That is to say he doesn't necessarily know what picture he is going to take until he has taken it. The results are soft, rather sinister images that aren 't abstractions but are hard to decipher and at times even harder to account for—for instance, the row of empty theater seats and the model airplane parked on a dresser. It takes a while to spot it but a factor common to many of Gimpaya's prints is the lightsource in cluded in composition. An extreme example of this is the shadowy model boat made even more so by the dazzle of the naked bulb placed in front ofit. It is only in the atypically sharp study offorks bunched together on white napkins that the light explains the subject. Bom in Ponce but raised in New York City, Gimpaya seems to have made his home in art for its own sake. And to some extent the same can be said of Julio Piedra who was an adolescent when he arrived here from Cuba in the pre-Castro era. He writes eloquently about color and his flower pieces, though black and white, recall the paintings ofPantin Latour. The photographer is nevertheless self-taught and is the only one in the group without an art background— unless his previous career as a profes sional flamenco dancer andpresent occupation as a makeup artist count. Piedra places his flowers in elegant glass or pottery vases but, unlike the French painter, allows sunlight to slant across them, casting deep shadows on the tables and mottling parts of the walls behind. While Latour's chiaroscuros act as soft backgrounds, Piedra's are in most cases abrupt and very much a part of the composition, making the light glitter as it does in some Spanish Baroque painting. While Piedra and Gimpaya have made art their homeland, Mendez has chosen to return to the source ofhis culture in a direct way. Source as inspiration, while arrived at in different ways, seems to be the message here. VIVIEN RAYNOR
VIVIEN RAYNOR is a writer and an art critic for the NEW YORK TIMES.
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C on) c ptario os hijos de inmigrantes han tenido que confrontar tradicionalmente el molesto problema de sus raices. Las nuevas culturas no se asimilan rapidamente al crisol, sino que se mantienen aisladas como partkulas en una emulsion. Los artistas cuyas rakes con parte de culturas diferentes a las de la clase media blanca norteamericana se encuentran en una situation similar a la de los inmigrantes. Estos artistas se enfrentran frecuentemente al dilema de modificar su estilo para lograr una mayor aceptacion. Frank Xavier Mendez retomo a sus ratces cuando se asento en Puerto Rico. Nacio y se crio en la ciudad de Nueva York. Al graduarse de la Escuela Secundaria de Artes Industrials, se unio a una in stitution bien norteamericana: el Cuerpo de Marinos. Licenciado debido a lesiones incurridas en un accidente, reanudo sus estudios, esta vez en la Escuela de Diseno Parsons, donde tomo un curso de fotografia. Mendez sacaba fotos de sus amigos y conocidos, pero tal parece que el tema del tiempo lo apasionaba, ya que frecuentemente fotografiaba a las mismas personas dos veces con varios anos de diferencia. El tiempo juega un papel aun mas importante en estas fotos de cementerios puertorriquenos, y no solo en el sentido de que la muerte es tiempo en si en su manifestation mas cruel. El hombre con flores en la mano, sentado sobre una tumba nueva; la pared tras el con la palabra 'Pro piedad” escrita sobre ella y dos angeles, tambien marcan elpaso del tiempo; los arbustos que crecen del mismo arco abovedado, tal y como crecen en las ruinas de la Roma antigua en los dibujos de Piranesi, sirven para dar un toque romantico. Elfotografo tiene un ojo sagaz para el arte—las cabezas multicolores de la Virgen y el Nino que sobresalen de una pared lisa, el contomo primitivo de un crucifijo pintado sobre una cruz con gran fidelidad anatomica. Sin embargo, lo que mas le llama la atencion a Mendez es la idea del cementerio como repetition de la historia puertorriquena. El unico fotografo profesional del grupo es Prank Gimpaya, quien es tambien maestro de arte. Esto tal vez explique por que su enfoque hacia la fotografia es un tanto expresionista abstracto. Cabe decir que el no siempre sabe que foto va a sacar hasta despues de sacarla. Esto resulta en imagenes suaves y un tanto siniestras que no son abstracciones, pero que muchas veces son dificiles de descifrar y mas aun de entender—por ejemplo, la fila de butacas vatias en un teatro y elavion modelo estacionado sobre la comoda. Toma un poco de tiempo percatarse de ello, pero un factor comun a muchas de las fotos de Gim paya es la fuente de luz incluida en la composition. Un ejemplo extremo de esto es este sombrio modelo de un bote sumergido aun mas en las sombras por la radiante bombilla colocada frente a el. La luz explica la materia solamente en el estudio poco tipico, pero claro, de unos tenedores amontonados sobre unas servilletas blancas. Gimpaya nacio en Ponce y se crio en Nueva York. Sin embargo, el parece haber encontrado un hogar en el arte por el arte. Hasta cierto punto se puede decir lo mismo de Julio Piedra, quien llego adolescente de la Cuba pre-revolucionaria. Escribe de forma elocuente sobre el color, y sus fotos de flores, aunque en bianco y negro, nos traen a la memoria los cuadros de Fantin Latour. Sin embargo, este fotografo es autodidactay es el unico del grupo sin trasfondo artistico—a menos que consideremos su carrera previa como bailarin de flamenco y su ocupacion actual como maquillador. Piedra coloca sus flores en elegantes vasos de cristal o de ceramica, pero a diferencia del pintor fiances, permite que la luz del sol les caiga de forma diagonal, creando sombras profundas sobre las mesas y moteando secciones de las paredes al dorso. Mientras que los claroscuros de Latour sirven de transfondo suave, los trasfondos de Piedra son abruptos en su mayoria y forman parte integral de la composition. Esto logra que la luz brille como en algunos cuadros del Barroco espanol. Mientras Piedra y Gimpaya han hecho del arte su patria, Mendez eligio volver a las rakes de su cultura de forma directa. La fuente como inspiration, aunque se lleque a ella de maneras diferentes, parece ser el mensaje de estas fotografias. VIVIEN RAYNOR
VIVIEN RAYNOR es escritora y critico de arte del NEW YORK TIMES.
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