Latin American Painters, Poets, Authors and Artists - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Discuss literary and artistic creations, or post your own poetry, essays etc.
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#14869059
I wanted to start a thread on the great Latin American painters and talk about them. I also would love for anyone to come in and talk about the famous ones and the not so famous ones. Some are world famous like Botero from Colombia, or Diego Rivera and Siquieros and Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, and the great ones like Francisco Oller. Mexico by itself has a vast amount of great painters. But...so do Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, etc etc. Cuba has some knockout men and women painters.

I used to hang around with painters in Puerto Rico in Old San Juan. One of my two favorites was Nick Quijano and Marta Perez.

Nick Quijano:

http://static.hwpi.harvard.edu/files/styles/os_files_xxlarge/public/revista/files/baile_conmigo.jpg?itok=H6_BH8yC

Botero:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVi1VASpa0aUAGMAPxQt.?p=Botero&fr=yhs-itm-001&fr2=piv-web&hspart=itm&hsimp=yhs-001&type=pfx_aragn_17_44_xtn
#14869129
Is this about painters only or writers as well?

I think the title of the thread gives you the answer, Reichstraten. Lol. :)

My own favourite Latin American writer is Jorge Luis Borges. I first read him when I was a teenager, and I became so obsessed with his work that I bought everything of his which was available in English at the time (the late 70s). His work was unlike anything I had ever read before (or since, for that matter) - unique, bequiling, exotic and yet strangely familiar at the same time. I now realise the reason his work seemed so strangely familiar, of course - Borges was a raging anglophile. Lol. He once said that he came to literature and high culture in general by reading the books in his father's library, most of which were the classics of English literature, in English. Borges' literary tastes were formed by reading English-language literature and poetry, not Spanish-language literature. I first realised that he was a raging anglophile when reading one of his short stories in which he quoted the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - "Hengist and Horsa need men." Most native English people have never even heard of Hengist and Horsa, or indeed of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle itself. Borges would do things like read the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for fun, in the original Old English. Lol. This cultural 'displacement' of Borges' mind meant that he came to both English-language culture as an outsider (as a Latin American) and he also came to Spanish-language culture as an outsider (whose tastes had been formed by English-language culture). The result was that he was highly conscious of the relativity and the inter-relations of these different cultures, and could examine both traditions in a highly self-aware and subtle manner. In my opinion, this was the source of his greatness and uniqueness as a writer.

Fun fact: in the cult 1960s movie Performance, one of the characters (played by Mick Jagger) gets shot. The camera follows the path of the bullet as it enters his brain (hey, it was an avant-garde movie from the '60s, what do you expect? lol), and the final image inside his brain is a picture of Jorge Luis Borges. Not so fun fact: the director of the movie shot himself in the head decades later, but survived long enough for his wife to find him. As he lay dying in her arms, he asked her: "Can you see Borges...?"
#14869193
Reichstraten wrote:Is this about painters only or writers as well?
The only Latin American author I know is Evelio Rosero.


The list is vast with writers. Since I am a woman and Latin American I like Latin American women authors. One of the most famous is Isabel Allende, the Chilean writer who lives in San Francisco, California and is married to an Anglo American writer of crime stories or detective stories. She wrote such novels translated into English such as: Daughter of Fortune,The House of the Spirits, Paula--Paula moved me a lot. It is about her daughter who in her twenties fell ill and slipped into a coma for a year before dying. During that year, Isabel Allende would read to her and speak to her about everything, family stories, her past, and all that she could tell her daughter hoping to be able to bring her back to life, it was a type of catharsis for her and it is so moving, I cried many days after finishing her book. It is really about loss, and how we lose loved ones,and we feel pain and grief, and break apart spiritually losing them. Her daughter was gone, and yet the process of remembering Paula kept her alive. It is a very, very beautiful book.
#14869195
I grew up surrounded by Pablo Neruda’s poetry.

“The hatred that kills poets is laid to rest by their poetry”.

My favourite Latino artwork, though, is not done by a famous artist, but by poor and anonymous women: arpilleras.

    Arpilleras are brightly colored patchwork pictures made by groups of women (also known as arpilleristas) in Chile during the military dictatorship (1973–90) of Augusto Pinochet. Constructed from simple materials such as burlap and scraps of cloth, they typically depict scenes of hardship and violence that many women experienced during the dictatorship due to impoverished living conditions and government repression. Arpilleras were made in workshops organized by a committee of the Chilean Catholic Church and then secretly distributed abroad through the church's human rights group, the Vicariate of Solidarity. The production of arpilleras provided a vital source of income for the arpilleristas, many of whom had been left in a state of financial insecurity due to widespread unemployment and forced disappearances of their husbands and children, who became known as desaparecidos. Arpilleras often depicted expressly political themes and openly denounced the human rights violations of the Pinochet regime, and are currently recognized as an example of subversive women's art in an authoritarian political context.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpilleras
#14869196
Potemkin wrote:I think the title of the thread gives you the answer, Reichstraten. Lol. :)

My own favourite Latin American writer is Jorge Luis Borges. I first read him when I was a teenager, and I became so obsessed with his work that I bought everything of his which was available in English at the time (the late 70s). His work was unlike anything I had ever read before (or since, for that matter) - unique, bequiling, exotic and yet strangely familiar at the same time. I now realise the reason his work seemed so strangely familiar, of course - Borges was a raging anglophile. Lol. He once said that he came to literature and high culture in general by reading the books in his father's library, most of which were the classics of English literature, in English. Borges' literary tastes were formed by reading English-language literature and poetry, not Spanish-language literature. I first realised that he was a raging anglophile when reading one of his short stories in which he quoted the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - "Hengist and Horsa need men." Most native English people have never even heard of Hengist and Horsa, or indeed of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle itself. Borges would do things like read the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for fun, in the original Old English. Lol. This cultural 'displacement' of Borges' mind meant that he came to both English-language culture as an outsider (as a Latin American) and he also came to Spanish-language culture as an outsider (whose tastes had been formed by English-language culture). The result was that he was highly conscious of the relativity and the inter-relations of these different cultures, and could examine both traditions in a highly self-aware and subtle manner. In my opinion, this was the source of his greatness and uniqueness as a writer.

Fun fact: in the cult 1960s movie Performance, one of the characters (played by Mick Jagger) gets shot. The camera follows the path of the bullet as it enters his brain (hey, it was an avant-garde movie from the '60s, what do you expect? lol), and the final image inside his brain is a picture of Jorge Luis Borges. Not so fun fact: the director of the movie shot himself in the head decades later, but survived long enough for his wife to find him. As he lay dying in her arms, he asked her: "Can you see Borges...?"


Borges has fans among great men. Remember Borges fans=Great men. Big smile.

Anyway I thought I would use your comments as an excuse to try to entice the anglophiles into something more Latin American. This list of Latin American books you should read before you die might inspire you? Have you read them all? You should @Potemkin .

http://www.latintimes.com/top-20-latin- ... tos-133218
#14869201
This list of Latin American books you should read before you die might inspire you? Have you read them all? You should @Potemkin .

I've only read two of those books, Tainari: Jorge Luis Borges' Fictions and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. I've also read a collection of Isabel Allende's short stories and one of Mario Vargas Llosa's novels (which isn't listed), as well as almost everything by Borges which is available in English. Oh, and the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda and Julia be Burgos. Looks like I've got some catching up to do. Lol. It should be fun.... :up: :D
#14869306
skinster wrote:Err, I've been meaning to read Open Veins of Latin America for a while. It'll happen soon.

Tainari, feel free to recommend any Latin American feminists you enjoy. :)


The classic by Eduardo Galeano. The Uruguayan.

http://resolutereader.blogspot.com/2012 ... latin.html

It was done in 1971 but still is quite relevant today. Hugo Chavez tried to hand it to Obama at the UN when they met. For Chavez that is what South America is all about.

There is a good feminist and lesbian Puerto Rican writer called Ana Lydia Vega. Look up her work. You will enjoy it in English.

There is also a very active Puerto Rican political candidate or ex political candidate that ran for vice presidency of the USA in 2008 for the Green Party. Her name is Rosa Clemente.

This is a recent interview by Laura Flanders (British journalist that works in the USA) who interviewed Rosa Clemente.





Before the Hurricane:

Last edited by Tainari88 on 09 Dec 2017 02:36, edited 1 time in total.
#14869316
Pants-of-dog wrote:I grew up surrounded by Pablo Neruda’s poetry.

“The hatred that kills poets is laid to rest by their poetry”.

My favourite Latino artwork, though, is not done by a famous artist, but by poor and anonymous women: arpilleras.

    Arpilleras are brightly colored patchwork pictures made by groups of women (also known as arpilleristas) in Chile during the military dictatorship (1973–90) of Augusto Pinochet. Constructed from simple materials such as burlap and scraps of cloth, they typically depict scenes of hardship and violence that many women experienced during the dictatorship due to impoverished living conditions and government repression. Arpilleras were made in workshops organized by a committee of the Chilean Catholic Church and then secretly distributed abroad through the church's human rights group, the Vicariate of Solidarity. The production of arpilleras provided a vital source of income for the arpilleristas, many of whom had been left in a state of financial insecurity due to widespread unemployment and forced disappearances of their husbands and children, who became known as desaparecidos. Arpilleras often depicted expressly political themes and openly denounced the human rights violations of the Pinochet regime, and are currently recognized as an example of subversive women's art in an authoritarian political context.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpilleras


Arpilleras. How beautiful. Never heard of them before Pants.

You remember Maria Luisa Bombal "La Amortajada"? And do you remember reading "Romulo Gallego" who wrote "Dona Barbara"?

One of my husband's favorites to read is Ernesto Sabato. Have you read him?

@Potemkin mentioned Borges but he should give an idea to reading the original form of "Como Agua Para Chocolate" because it is a multimedia book. It has recipes, chapters, comic strips, and music in the form of a CD and you have to go all the way through the multimedia version to get the full experience. A movie was made from the novel. Laura Esquivel.

A great experience. Film, comic strip, book, recipes, relationships, drama, and music all in one work of literature. Latino all the way.

Marta Perez one of my favorite painters. Loved hanging out with her!

I wish I were a millionaire and buy all her paintings in one shot!
#14869318
MistyTiger wrote:I miss Chavez. He had cajones! :D

I like the movie based on the book Como agua para chocolate. I think I read the book. The movie did a pretty decent job highlighting the plot of the book. Esquivel created an incredible story.


The film is very cute! But the novel is very interesting indeed!

People complaining about dinner. Got to step to it. Be back tomorrow to work a lot in this thread. I can't cram 45 years of reading Latin American lit, and studying art in LA in such a short amount of time. This thread is going to be hard to keep up with. But I will give it my ALL! ;)
#14869804
    [size=Comic Sans MS]La Casa de las Barajas[/size]

@Rancid.............................Senatorial Candidate for the Great state of Texas
@Red_Army........................Russian Mafia Attache
@Potemkin.........................Director of Propaganda and Publicity for the Rancid Campaign
@Skinster...........................Public Policy Advisor for the Rancid Campaign
@Misty_Tiger......................Secretary of the Treasury and Official Accountant and Tax Advisor to Rancid's Campaign
@Jimjam..............................Secretary of State for the Rancid Campaign
@The Immortal Goon...........Behind the Scenes Puppetmaster
@Godstud.............................CNN Reporter for the Toronto Sentinel


Rancid is gearing up to take on the current senator for the state of Texas, Ted Cruz. He is slated to debate Ted Cruz on CNN in three weeks, and he needs to make sure he has the money for his campaign from an undisclosed source, this source had been carefully developed by a student named Red_Army drinking vodka heavily in Russian bars and restaurants, from some Russian Mafia underworld people. Red_Army is his connection to the Russian underworld. Rancid has RA flown in from Anchorage on a special plane. RA abuses his privileges, and brings his fiancee/wife with him to visit Austin sightseeing monuments, and acts like he doesn't care about taxpayer funds knowing Rancid is a conman candidate. But? Rancid is convinced his mottos and his agenda will win over the public, and he won't stand for not respecting images to maintain from Red Army. Rancid has @Potemkin in the office with him since he is in charge of propaganda control. The conversation between RA, Potemkin and Rancid takes place in a big lovely office with a fine view of Austin's downtown and it goes down like this:

Rancid: Red_Army, you need to keep that big pie hole in your face quiet and you need to not blow this off as some little unimportant campaign! I have an image to maintain! Haven't you read the papers lately and seen social media like facebook? If the fine people of Texas think I am uncaring of how I spend my money---er, I mean their money, it will not win me the prize of "Show me the Money". I have to be tightfisted with the money--especially with other's money--that is not my money! I don't care that you haven't left Alaska in years! I have a fucking image to maintain here! And you are supposed to get me a direct line to Vasily Tasilov in Moscow! Who can get me the rubles I crave to have! So I can flood the damn social media world and tweet about how much of an asshole Ted Cruz is! I must win this coming debate on Sunday---Potemkin here says I have a lack of name recognition problem and it might cost me---I got to have my Rancid name with a big gold "R" plastered all over downtown and all over Texas. Your fuck up is not good.

Red_Army: I am sorry Rancid, I am your humble Russian Mafia servant, but I got a big dick and it takes over my brain, that is what attracted me to your campaign in the first place your morning affirmation of "PENIS!" it was sheer genius! I got horny on the plane and afterwards too--only visiting public places brings it down and my wife helped. But just because I am good at eating pussy and using my enormous penis for my own self pleasure, doesn't mean I can't be trusted to do the job right! I got Vasily under my thumb, he is in need of some little stash I have, and he can deliver about two dozen little snot nosed underemployed Russian teen hackers to invade the facebook, twitter, and the google universe, with fake news stories of Ted Cruz molesting big old men in Canadian airport restrooms in no time! I got him by his big huevos for sure! It is a piece of cake Rancid. All taken care of!

Potemkin: Well, you might think it is taken care of Red_Army but Rancid needs you to make a media statement, and say it was a sincere mistake, and for certain purposes unknown to them at the present, you must apologize, and then misdirect to a scandal about Heidi Cruz,about her being ugly, and needing plastic surgery. I did my research and she visited a plastic surgeon recently. These kinds of balls of smoke are critically necessary, to maintain an air of authority and credibility surrounding Rancid's motto, "Show Me the Money" and morning rituals of greeting the world with "Penis!". You can't actually have fun with your penis Red_Army, you just imply that you do....that way people have to use their imagination, and the men and women who need the subconscious archetype of a Penis like Jungian pscyhologists might propose---how should I put it? They wind up with feeling drawn to the message. After all Red_Army we are dealing with reptilian brains and fear is one of the most powerful of all in politics, we must appeal to fear....Goebbels did! So will we! The fear of not having a penis to stroke in the morning...that is what is driving our issue based campaign! You must remain simple, direct, and erect, to capture the fucking voters Red_Army. I have a sacred duty to make sure the message is clear and unequivocal for the masses. Propaganda is imperative for a win!

Rancid: You heard it from the man who knows when to diagnose a penis problem, and when to pump it up. I trust Potemkin's expertise on our message. Get Vasily to let loose the teen hackers in Moscow and get his rubles and supply him his stash. Keep a low profile. Now go and apologize to the press Red_Army. No more frozen brains from Alaska fuck ups for you!

Red_Army (pats his big penis in his pants and sighs): (RA thinks to himself and looks down at his penis and says to himself--I guess you will have to wait). Boss, I can do the job! I will dial Vasily and set up the media flood. Facebook, Google, and Twitter.....will have Rancid's side of the story in Texas all over the place. Ted Cruz's video leak of him molesting old big white men in Canadian airports are in my possession. It is my ace in the hole!


COMMERCIAL BREAK......"La Casa de Las Barajas" continues....... [/size]
#14869806
Marta Perez I had a little job when I was about seventeen years old until I was eighteen years old in her little art gallery. Such a talented woman painter....here is a little bio about her art. She is now in one of the biggest art museums in the Caribbean.

http://www.mapr.org/en/museum/proa/artist/perez-marta

Such beautiful paintings!
#14869824
Red_Army wrote:This story pleases me :lol:


I thought it would. The saga continues. The next episode introduces, @Godstud as the mild mannered reporter with a hidden agenda and @skinster as the public policy advisor. You will then have to give out a press statement in a press meeting and try to misdirect.

Are you enjoying it Red_Army? I like this stuff. Reminds me of days from a while ago when I used to do acting on the stage. Hee hee.

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