Paradoxes in Counterpoint by Luis de Jesús The work of Luis Miguel de Jesús that we have for our judgment epitomizes the intellectual flow of an era in which similar goals were opened in order to propose futuristic projects, aimed at new conceptions of the world, humanity, and life. Our artist has sought, within traditional frameworks, centrifugal paths to lay the foundations of an aesthetic discourse that allows us to understand the cognitive elements of a period in order to find bifurcations that take the existing as a basis and at the same time establish a range of investigative routes to aesthetics. The equation to which the artist has paid special attention is the resulting fusion of thought and creation. In a certain way, it takes the arts to a Pythagorean plane where theoretical functions come into effect, charged with determining the paths to be taken into consideration in order to achieve the aforementioned combination. At the same time, he recognizes his limitations so that they serve as a guide to the creative ambiguities that shape the style. Hence, I occasionally feel the imperative to enter abstract realms, with the intention of reconfiguring an image that responds to the creator and his time. Momentarily achieving non-objectivity gives rise to a phenomenon of alignment where the artistic product, its producer, and the viewer begin to weigh the natural changes that occur in the spirit, the psyche, and natural life that determine the times to which the individual responds. In a certain sense, he is creating chromatic poetry through the visual arts, for it integrates internal and external gravitational forces, as well as the mysteries and contradictions that keep the vital flames alive. In the work before me, there is a consciousness of consolidation. It aspires to simultaneously see the soul of the West. In his creations, Luis somehow proposes to discover the alpha and omega of existence. For in his work, there is only the spark of unplanned eccentricity, because his artistic production has deliberately entered into encyclopedic intentions that seek the universal in the particular. From this emerge enigmatic images where the self is suppressed to give way to an incorruptible knowledge, where the ego gives way to naked reality. In this regard, it coincides with a maieutics through which it reminds us of the Socratic approaches that formed the basis of the consolidation of Western civilization. Dialogue is the factor that keeps all aspects of life and esoteric factors coherent. This opens horizons to convictions and enigmas, hence the figure with its back to the Theater of the Absurd, whose actors are represented with similar masks made of brown paper bags and whose spectators remain oblivious to the televised spectacle, symbolizes the tragedy of dehumanization, to the point that the only one who shows face is the family dog. It thus signifies the alienation of a generation in search of a new imaginary to give substance to their lives. They are, therefore, ready to continue a spontaneous dialogue that allows them to substantiate their stay in the world. They seem to cry out for realities, even if they are elusive, that provide answers to their questions and function as emotional mutations whose value gains strength with approximations. In this way, de Jesús gives us an existential and highly critical vision of the moment in which we live. José Pérez Ruiz, Ph.D., Art Critic, International Association of Art Critics (AICA), San Juan, PR – February 13, 2016  

Garvin Sierra | A Cry in the Hand English Version By Humberto Figueroa, Curatorial Advisor The graphic message from protest art is a demand for justice and truth. A valuable aspect of this expression is the poster, which, due to its location on the wall and in the public's transit space, enjoys greater visibility. In times of advanced use of virtual technology, the art of denunciation and protest acquires greater capacity for multiplication through electronic networks. Its capacity for deployment is equivalent to a powerful force. The exhibition A Cry in the Hand recognizes the classic definition of the poster as a cry on the wall. Nowadays, the wall is the screen of a cell phone or any device that receives the signal emanating from a transmitter connected to the electronic medium. The Museo de Las Américas shares the exhibition by Puerto Rican artist Garvin Sierra from one of its galleries. A Cry in the Hand brings together a selection that summarizes the most discussed and debated topics in the media in recent years. Creating at ground level – Ana Teresa Toro A cry in the hand – Humberto Figueroa Garvin Sierra – Antonio Martorell

Entrelazados English Version By Irma V. Arzola, Art Historian Federico Farrington is an artist who playfully explores human interaction while manifesting a singular inner openness. “Entrelazados” is a playful exploration of the ambivalence perceptible in the human spectacle through the iconographic syncretism of sexualized, androgynous, zoomorphic bodies, distorted and fused in indeterminate spaces. The traces of the pictorial process, the history of its becoming, are evident on the surface of the substrate. These constitute a plastic deconstruction that serves as testimony to the development of Farrington's visual art. From the moment I met Federico, more than a decade ago, he was already creating enigmatic and provocative images with polyvalent readings that seem to emanate from a bestiary of chimeras. Farrington conveys dreamlike scenes that confront the viewer with the paradoxical nature of existence. "Interlaced" externalizes his meditations on social roles and the different personas each individual constructs and employs to relate to others. The undefined environments contain mythological figures and characters from the circus world, whose physiognomies embody their psyches and who participate in narratives about violence, power, and love. In this new series, Farrington works on altarpieces in a way that reveals the fluidity and experimental, intuitive, and historical nature of his process. The artist carefully considers each stroke, tone, and volume captured, studying its effect on the whole. He intervenes in the surface using oil brushstrokes and occasionally alters them with sandpaper and stencils transferred with spray paint, thereby deconstructing the pictorial technique and the assumed result. The surfaces are rich and luminous, even when the palette is limited to a few colors and their grisailles. The polychromatic effect intensifies the sensation of penetrating and participating in a fantastical world that engenders curiosity and incites synesthetic experiences. “Entrelazados” achieves a space filled with stimuli and convergences that invite reflection, feeling, and close observation. The distorted, extended, and undefined interstices of form and concept make the viewer a participating agent of the meaning revealed in each representation. ARTIST STATEMENT My creative process brings with it a narrative where diverse images and topics simultaneously converge, from the most mundane, the deeply psychological, the ritualistic, the political commentary, the humorous, the erotic, to the sublime. With the strokes and colors of my works, I explore the planes of a distorted reality that navigates between caricature-like innuendos and the transpersonal plane. Paradoxically, elements of unreal truth persist in this reading, where locality disappears in a timeless space and characters interact in a playful atmosphere with irreverent humor. The density and lightness of human existence are polarized, acting as a pendulum that moves between opposites or variants; Ambiguity and vulnerability are responses to the quantum world of multiple possibilities, to the ever-present uncertainty of knowing and not knowing, and above all, to appreciating the beauty of mystery. Federico Farrington BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Transitions in Time | Olmedo Quimbita English Version Time changes, minute by minute… Non-repeatable traces in each work created in a given year, traveling on the long journey of emotions. Yesterday was present and today is the past. Infinite creativity riding the horse of time, traces captured in unrepeatable symbols and colors, forming part of the great human collection and passing through, with my profound and ethereal message, the soul of whoever contemplates it. Olmedo Quimbita “I can always say that I distinguish his painting… For the style he has cultivated and refined during his long and ongoing career in so many exhibitions, in the most unusual places in the world. Using a palette of very light shades and truly summary drawing, Olmedo Quimbita long ago stopped painting the Andean world, shifting his gaze to the tropics, its inhabitants and their daily life, as well as to the birds and foliage of our coast.” Juan Castro y Velázquez Art critic and curator BIOGRAPHICAL DATA EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

Between the Lines – Antonio Martorell and His Friends State of Grace By Humberto Figueroa The recovery of a state of grace after the disasters that have befallen us in the past four years is a task of greater relevance. The misfortunes caused by misgovernance, seasonal hurricanes on the Atlantic and Caribbean runways, the multiplication and mutation of the pandemic virus, tremors, and the earthquake are forcing certain modifications in daily life in Puerto Rico. Antonio Martorell, from Taller de la Playa in Ponce, hunkered down with his friends and collaborators to respond, in the face of siege, through art as an affirmation of life in the face of so much death. A book, portraits from cell phone cameras, the discovery of photos of family and friends of historical value, and the government's contradictions about the number of deaths due to the collapse of essential services caused by Hurricane Maria served as impetus as a creator. Added to this were the struggles of migrants to cross borders now closed to the descendants of indigenous peoples, the poor, and the working class. The portraits painted on upholstery fabrics, thick brocades, and plushes bring his masterful collection from the 1978 Family Album series up to date. Photography and film were two primary sources of his intellectual formation before he ventured out to see encyclopedic collections in other countries. Already in his 1972 Catalogue of Objects, a vision that prefers to create photo-cinematic frames, avoiding embarking on repetitive narratives, is evident. In the series of paintings executed from 2017 to 2021, Martorell's extensive career as a graphic designer emerges in his compositional approach. The approach to his painting-making process poses a challenge to his temperament, which prefers to overcome obstacles and challenges with his own hands. The designs in the fabric textiles he uses as support lead him to silence rational analysis once he flows with the rhythms of the painting. He allows himself to be carried away by this dynamic to faithfully interpret the model while establishing an atmosphere of warm light and muted shadows. Martorell maintains his role as a chronicler of political tensions on the island and around the world. He demonstrates this political action through his printmaking workshops, from the ICP (Public Institute of Criminal Investigation) to the Alacrán Workshop in 1968 and other workshops in Puerto Rico, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. The work "Once" is a pictorial essay about the first Puerto Rican accused of murder and tried by a military tribunal of the United States Army in 1899, less than a year after the invasion. The journey through Entretelas culminates with the installation "El muro mortal" (The Mortal Wall) and the painting "Thirteen Crowns for a Virus." In these two works, Martorell refers to funerary arts, aesthetics, and the expressions and writings of loss in times of loved ones. The real border and that of the alternative world are present as an inevitable threshold. In the background, the wall installation "Cameos" (Cameos) refers us to the portrait as shadow, origin, and destiny. In the context of its installation around the branch torn off by Hurricane Maria, it invites reflection on the biological family, the chosen one, and the global community that today sustains its struggle against so much adversity through the forces of art, science, and friendship. Antonio Martorell / Entretelas

Water, Sun and Serene THE SMILES OF CLAY – Eco Poetics of Water, Sun and Serene Dr. Pedro Reina Water, Sun and Serene, a Puerto Rican artistic collective founded by Pedro Adorno and Cathy Vigo in 1993, commemorates 28 years of multidisciplinary work with a comprehensive exhibition that takes us on the paths of expressiveness and memory so that, together with them, we can interpret their trajectory. Present since its beginnings in multiple social scenarios in the country, providing specific aesthetic responses to the constant collective challenges we face, the group has sown handfuls of seeds in the streets that today have become a dense forest of floating trees that grow everywhere, and that incorporate, among others, the traces of joy, protest, and imagination. Using every performative strategy—integrating music, movement, and visual arts—Agua, Sol y Sereno (Water, Sun, and Serene) emerges time and again in a troupe to invite us to a feast of the senses, lifting up the entire cultural pantheon in their wake in a reiterated celebration of life and history. We all walk with them in this community procession. Mounted on stilts, wearing the finest costumes, and accompanying the procession of heroes and heroines symbolized by papier-mâché big heads, we remember our origins and celebrate life in a sacred rite held outdoors, without fear and with intention. The exhibition offers a journey that presents and contextualizes fundamental elements of the group's vitality, such as Afro-Caribbean elements, urban sound, carnival, and memory, among many others. Each section will highlight the community element of each work, the spirit of collaboration that characterizes each aesthetic proposal, and the dramatic spirit that gave life to each step of this collective of creators on their path to establishing themselves as a benchmark in the annals of the performing arts in Puerto Rico. Agua, Sol y SerenoDr. Mareia Quintero RiveraIn its name lies the seed of a poetics rooted in the environment and an ethic committed to the democratization of art. Founded in 1993 by Pedro Adorno and Cathy Vigo, Agua, Sol y Sereno (ASYS) stands out for its comprehensive cultural work in continuous dialogue with the country's social reality. This collective has explored a broad artistic register, from actor's theater to the use of masks, stilts, dance, live music, film and video art, producing a vast amount of shows, troupes, rituals, installations, cinematic and audiovisual productions, among others. ASYS has a unique repertoire of more than twenty original pieces, some of which have been presented at international festivals in Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Uruguay, Spain, France, and various cities in the United States. Their works respond to a deep interest in creating theater that contributes to social dialogue, based on an introspective look at personal and collective wounds, the fragility of human bonds, and the need to strengthen them. Their creative processes are based on historical, sociocultural, aesthetic, and philosophical research into the themes they address, producing works that narrate our social experience through their own lenses. This approach allows them to delve into issues such as ecological destruction, social violence, colonialism, food shortages, and deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, drawing on the life experiences of the collective's own members and the communities with which the group has worked since its inception, exploring the nuances and complexity of the human condition. Their unparalleled dedication to community and educational work stands out, presenting their repertoire and developing workshops and residencies in low-income communities, rehabilitation centers, and schools throughout Puerto Rico and its diaspora. Based on the principles of Latin American popular education, ASYS has consolidated a pedagogy of imagination that goes beyond the teaching of artistic techniques and opens a door to participation in creative processes born from observation and conversation about personal, family, and community experiences. This work not only entails an invaluable social contribution but has also nourished the group's artistic creation, providing direct contact with the realities and collective imaginations of the majority. This connection has allowed their artistic work to engage with broad audiences across the country, from a perspective that escapes the dictates of the market and the world of entertainment. Following the sonic and spiritual call of our Afro-Caribbean identity, ASYS has sought to delve into the foundations of Puerto Rican popular culture as a foundation to develop its own artistic language that connects us to long-standing cultural memories. From this Caribbean eco-poetics, the group has made art its way of acting in the world, reinventing traditions to make them relevant to the challenges of the present and investing in the construction of new imaginaries for the country we dream of. In its daily practice, ASYS has nurtured conviviality, the quality of human connections, the possibilities that arise from the proximity of bodies, from the openness of dialogue, from openness to co-creation. It has been a space for convergence, a meeting of artistic, political, and spiritual concerns, a crossroads of expressive languages, a place for creative pursuits, a gathering of friends, a space for community, an extended family, a tribe. Beyond articulating a political discourse through artistic creation, ASYS constitutes a space where alternative modes of relationship can be experimented with, grounded in an ethic-politics of solidarity. Making the continuation of this work possible is perhaps the most valuable gift the group has given to our battered self-esteem as a people. In a context where it was thought impossible to make a living from non-commercial theater, ASYS has developed a self-managed practice that has allowed it economic sustainability without jeopardizing the aesthetic and political autonomy of its content. A workshop and space for creative development for dozens of Puerto Rican artists of various generations, ASYS constitutes a fundamental reference for emerging artists, managers, and collectives. Its trajectory is

Perception of Space Perception of Space in Gustavo FuentesBy Rodolfo J. Lugo-Ferrer, PhD The title of this exhibition, Perception of Space, consequently refers us to think about the three classical unities or what we know as the Aristotelian unities: action, time, space; proposed by the 3rd century Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his work Poetics, which although they are intended as literary rules, especially for the theater, could be applied to other artistic manifestations, in this case to the exhibition at hand, especially the unity of place or space; since it could be considered an aesthetic criterion. Although we could take a risk and add other units to the analysis of the works presented in this exhibition, such as action and time. In order not to limit ourselves only to the units indicated by the Greek philosopher, we could broaden the vision of the analysis of all the works in this exhibition and add the unity of style, as proposed by Nicolás Boileau in his Art Poétique (1674). A homogeneous language and structures can be appreciated in the construction and pictorial formality of the style of each of the pieces. Fuentes comments that in the works in this exhibition, he aims to "translate all the information into emotions so that they impact the viewer's subconscious by constructing an amalgam of elements that are repeated across and through the pictorial planes, and the constituent elements created by the voids to create an optical effect that is tangible and can reformulate a pictorial representation. It's like being reborn in a historical moment in which we have found ourselves with the obligation to restart or rethink, as I have previously stated, what preexisted." What the artist seeks to express is nothing new, but he can reformulate what was previously proposed by 20th-century artists belonging to the Op, Kinetic Art, or Kineticism movements: Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder, Jesús Rafael Soto, Francisco Sobrino, Yaacov Agam, Jean Tinguely, Robert Jacobsen, Frank Stella, Alexander Lieberman, Víctor Vasarely et al. The works in this exhibition are constructions made with non-traditional materials: polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as PVC, coated with polyurethane automotive paint; he also uses concrete, screws, and LED lighting. As Fuentes says, "I want to provoke an exteroceptive experience in the viewer, in order to create an awareness of our environment, that's why I use bright primary and secondary colors." Exteroceptive experiences are all those sensations that involve the senses: sight, smell, touch, and are provoked by external stimuli. Exteroception is definitely accompanied by proprioceptive stimuli that provoke bodily stimulation in space, hence the reference to the unity of space or place established more than two thousand three hundred years ago by Aristotle. These pieces by Fuentes move us to feel both sensations. The works in this exhibition urge kinetic movement, an extrasensory experience through the play with the combination or contrast of shapes and colors, and the LED lights give the playful sensation of moving in a quantum space. With minimalist and simple elements, hallucinatory effects are achieved in each piece. The polychromatic dissected figures with primary colors provoke a vibratory movement. These vibratory chromatic combinations pose mathematical and physical games, hence the hallucinatory nature that immerses the viewer in those sensory experiences the artist speaks of regarding exteroception, and which I add to proprioception. as Vasarely so aptly stated in his idea of a "plastic unity." Fuentes draws from his kinetic and geometric ancestors, especially the entire group of Latin Americans living in Paris who managed to unite an excellent conclave of artists in what was called the "Visual Arts Research Group" made up of the Argentines Julio Le Parc and Rogelio Polesello, the Brazilian Vieira Da Silva, and the Venezuelans Carlos Cruz Diez and Jesús Soto, et al. After the Greeks of the 5th century, everything is a rethinking of old ideas with contemporary concepts of the artist that realize their particular historical space, which is what can be appreciated in these daring pictorial approaches in the works of this exhibition. These works, in addition to having a playful character, are very dynamic structures with a diversity of characteristics where the integration of lighting elements can be appreciated, as a resource to create a perception of movement. They project reflections, bordering on a sensorial spectacle. or a perceptible reality where various movements are perceived, the one created by the play of light and shadow from the LED lights and the structure of the piece, as well as the movement executed by the viewer when standing in front of the work and positioning themselves at different angles of the space in play with the light and reflections. From here we return to Aristotle's three unities and the unity of style added by Boileau. Fuentes forces us to experience a transformable and three-dimensional reality in pieces that are not. ARTIST'S PROPOSAL ...ways of existing to maintain our holistic balance within the planet we inhabit, the universe moves in a totality, an experience of space or extensity. The universe is constantly changing; it is responsible for the evolutionary process of each material or deterioration. In my work, I build light microcosms that allow us to enter a different experience of light in time and space. It allows you to discover a new intimate image, the visual field depending on the viewer's previous observation experiences. I work with non-traditional materials such as polyvinylchloride (PVC), a medium for creating my new designs. From my beginnings in oil painting on canvas to the current wall construction, the intervention with architecture and its functional spaces, I maintain a consistency in my artistic approach. The interaction with the city, nature, the interpretation of its spaces, structures, lighting. The internal representation of each inhabitant and their individual search to shine with their own light within a society that is increasingly exclusive. This work shows us a

Pirate Island There are moments in the collective history of a people that mark a leap, a great change, the end of something and the beginning of something else. We could say that September 2017 was one of those defining moments for Puerto Rico, with the scourge of Hurricane Maria. That disaster was followed by the convulsive summer of 2019 when history was made from the Calle de la Resistencia in front of La Fortaleza. Both events marked us as a people, and within the collective LAS JORNADAS DEL GRABADO PUERTORRIQUEÑO, an idea, a call emerged: an invitation to express our Puerto Rican and Caribbean identity, a survivor of violent conquests, corrupt governments, foreign wars, senseless pollution, theft of our resources, demagoguery, hurricanes, and earthquakes. PIRATE ISLAND was born. Just as the exhibition was about to be presented, with a parade of banners representing the works created as a complementary activity, the COVID-19 pandemic reached our island, shutting down the country and the world. Everything was put on hold until now. The call to create Pirate Island provoked a perspective that spans the past to the present. And with that perspective, the hurricane of emotions that, from the depths of individual consciousness reflected in the collective, is channeled and codified in the prints and banners that make up this exhibition is inevitable. Emotions that coalesce into declarations, powerful images, a map of national essence, political commentary, denunciation of outrage, patriotic love, meaningful humor, grounded hope, defiant resistance, and wise response. All from the platform of committed craftsmanship, technical quality, and the artistic excellence of the participating engravers. The banner, etymologically, comes from the French language and alludes to maintaining firmness. It consists of a rectangular piece of cloth, often elongated, that displays the symbols and emblems of an organization, group, cause, or movement. The artists participating in Las Jornadas will carry out a graphic performance, walking on September 4th at 4:00 p.m. from Plaza de Colón to the Museum of the Americas in the Ballajá Barracks, with their banners, bearing their Pirate Island prints. These prints will be installed in the museum's hallways.

Para decir ahora; Arte y cartel Colección de carteles de la Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades Imagen y texto se funden y se encuentran para construir un cartel. El cartel como medio de comunicación pública es una de las formas más democráticas de arte por su ubicación y porque está pensado para llegar, atraer y convencer al público con la imagen y el texto que la acompaña. El cartel apareció de forma ininterrumpida en Puerto Rico a mediados del siglo XX como un instrumento educativo esgrimido por el gobierno encabezado por Luis Muñoz Marín. Situaciones que requerían urgente atención llenaron el espacio rural de los carteles. Dirigidos a adultos en la ruralía, los carteles del Taller de Gráfica y Cinema de Parques y Recreo Público primero y luego de la División de Educación de la Comunidad, abordaban temas relacionados a la participación comunitaria para resolver problemas comunes, para combatir enfermedades y contagios y para concienciar a la gente de la importancia del voto como instrumento transformador de la sociedad. Más adelante apareció el cartel cultural que anunciaba en los barrios rurales las fiestas de navidad, películas y libros, y al fundarse el ICP en 1955, los artistas que allí trabajaron diseñaron carteles para teatro, conciertos, exposiciones, ferias y efemérides. En los 60 y 70 aparece con fuerza el cartel de protesta producido en los talleres llamados revolucionarios, mientras otros talleres como el del Museo de Universidad de Puerto Rico y Actividades Culturales del primer centro docente preparaban los suyos. Una de las instituciones puertorriqueñas que ha contribuido significativamente a la presencia y permanencia del cartel en nuestro país es la Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades (FPH). Desde su fundación en 1977, la FPH ha empleado el cartel como instrumento de divulgación de las actividades que promueve. Entre otras están los simposios y foros, las conferencias, congresos, la edición y presentación de libros, la producción de documentales y las celebraciones culturales de toda índole y todas ellas vinculadas a las raíces humanísticas y a los valores y tradiciones que nos distinguen como pueblo, como sociedad. Es en la diversidad de enfoques, temas y formas de abordar situaciones en estos encuentros y producciones que la FPH ha contribuido a plantear y esclarecer conflictos que permean y reflejan nuestras circunstancias. Y de igual forma, los carteles ejemplifican, a través de los artistas que los crean, la variedad de soluciones y acercamientos que cada tema pide y que el artista interpreta. Para decir Ahora:Arte y cartel El cartel es un anuncio impreso en papel que contiene una imagen visual y texto. Es un grito en la pared, una idea hecha imagen. Ver vídeo Para decir ahora: Mujer El tema de la mujer tiene un importante espacio entre los proyectos humanísticos que promueve la Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. Ver vídeo Para decir ahora: Los ilustres La Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades ha reconocido en hombres y mujeres puertorriqueños… Ver vídeo Espacio urbano y patrimonio en el cartel El cartel es un anuncio que tiene una presencia pública y asume la función de ser portavoz de una idea, una actividad, o un objeto de consumo. Ver vídeo Diversidad de formas y expresiones La tradición del cartel en Puerto Rico nace en 1946 por una necesidad de educar y ofrecer a la población de adultos en la ruralía opciones que propiciaran una mejor vida, con salud, trabajo colectivo y sentido de la responsabilidad ciudadana. Ver vídeo El letrismo en el cartel El acoplamiento que se da en el cartel cuando observamos que la letra es parte integral de la imagen, que son la una para la otra. Ver vídeo PRESIONE LAS IMÁGENES A CONTINUACIÓN PARA INFORMACIÓN ADICIONAL Puede consultar la página del Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, (MHAA) para visitar en línea la colección de los más de 4,000 carteles que guarda en su colección.