The Middle of Somewhere
By Muriel Kool
With winter on the run, Gallery @49 is proud to usher in summer with a solo exhibition of “The Middle of Somewhere,” by Latino – American artist, Eugene Rodriguez. Presented in two parts, a series of oil paintings and an experimental narrative video, this exhibit will run from June 10th to July 10th 2004. An opening reception, at which Rodriguez will preside, will be held on Thursday, June 10th 2004, from 6 to 8 PM.
A third generation Latino, born and raised in Oxnard, California, Rodriguez, seeks to address the hardships faced by the first wave of immigrants from Mexico: migrant farm work, subhuman housing, low wages docked at the whim of the hirer, filth, sickness, an eternal diet of beans and, above all, the robbing of self- esteem that takes place when employers treat workers as dumb just because they do not speak English.
Spawning the second-generation of Latinos, these immigrants taught their children the values of hard work, learning English, attending school regularly, acquiring decent wage-earning vocational skills as a means of escaping the ghetto and, above all, voting for candidates most likely to be responsive to their demands for opportunity.
Today, the third generation of Latinos— who in ever-growing numbers are participating in the American dream— have graduate school degrees and prominent positions in business, education, communications, the arts and politics, as well as the property, wealth and self-esteem that accompany success. Considering himself one of the successful third generation Latinos, artist/teacher Rodriguez, a secure member of the middle class, urges his peers to "remember where they came from" and assist their rising brothers and sisters.
Rodriguezï¾â¢s says, "My paintings and experimental narrative video, entitled The Middle of Somewhere, address the experiences of working class Latinos through images gleaned, from my family’s photo album. Some of these are: piñata picnics in the park, maquiladoras (factories, really sweatshops, on the border between the United States and Mexico), the zoot suit riots; the lives of women employed in the cannery, street corner day-laborers, the 70’s Hollywood bar scene, a Pentecostal baptism, and the shopping carts of the homeless. For example, the l7 year old youth portrayed in The Next Generation is an example of a Mexican-born musician who has grown up in the United States and for years was torn between his love for the Beatles, country music, Bob Dylan, and the strains of Mariachii music which his ears still recall from early childhood at weddings, cafes and plazas as players serenaded families, lovers and loners." In this painting, Rodriguez says, "what I wanted to do was not to create a portrait, per se, but instead to focus on the youth, the music-maker, whose ear and fingers on the strings of his instrument figure prominently in the resolution of his conflict: combining both American and British music with Mariachi, paying due respect to both, thus creating a new form which is representative of the diversity and combinations in the population of the United States today."
The other paintings featured here, And La Banda Played On, depicts the very same riverbank in California where Rodriguez’s grandparents settled when they migrated from Mexico. Here, a middle class -looking couple, the "risen," have come to meet friends and hold al fresco discussions urging one another not only to help Latinos rise to the middle class but also not forsake the have-not Latinos, symbolized by the homeless man leaning against the handle of the shopping cart bearing his trashy "possessions," as he watches the well-to-do being serenaded by Mariachis who are hopeful of bagging big tips.
In both this paintings and the rest of the works in this exhibit, Rodriguez uses oil, wax and linen panels. The colors of his subjects frequently are framed or surrounded by black paint are understated rather than faded, resembling photographs that have been softly exposed. Preferring medium textures, "I find them more manageable," Rodriguez feels comfortable making his paintings l8 X 36 inches. He says, " Size, alone, does not touch the viewer’s soul, but the conviction, the blood and bones of the artist that go into the painting do." Powerful as his paintings are, Rodriguez’s strolling musicians and other figures, whether standing or seated, possess a grace and fluidity typically associated with dancers and gymnasts.
To paraphrase T.S. Eliot , every artist owes a debt to the masters in the same creative field who preceded him or her. Rodriguez, whose MFA tuition he paid for by teaching fashion design as a Fellowship student, though he is armed with generous graphic gifts, originality, the power of truth, as well as active concern for the" rising" and the needy, nevertheless pays tribute to high art predecessors: Caravaggio, muralists Diego Rivera (the father of his art), Orozco, and Frida Kahlo.
According to Rodriguez, "In my paintings, for The Middle of Somewhere, I have used the stills from an experimental narrative video by the same title. These are situated simultaneously on a riverbank where my grandparents settled after migrating to California from Mexico, and in a movie studio. The action in the film revolves around a picnic, real but staged, with a group of friends debating the value of art and the making of a commercial about family memories." Eventually the two stories mesh, demonstrating the Latino experience in America from the past to the present (from the working to middle class). As more and more Latinos and Latinas enter the middle, class, Rodriguez believes, "It is imperative to continue to discuss the interaction of issues, such as labor, immigration, class, gender, sexuality and the family. Besides reminding ourselves of where we have come from, we must examine our lives in the present and ask ourselves, where are we going? in order to envisage—not just a sink-hole of materialism—but a more productive, meaningful and promising future for all of us."
