of Antonio Martorell A / REMAINING—a comprehensive installation of prints and mixed media on felt, curated by Rafael Damast—is open until September 18, 2022, at Galleria Lorenzo Homar at Taller Puertorriqueño. [See full description, photos, and video with the artist at Taller Puertorriqueño. Taller is located at 2600 N. 5th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]
Carmen Febo San Miguel will host Meet the author: Antonio Martorell, “Un bosque de palabras y números”, on August 30, 2022, at 18:00 (practically, via Zoom). Martorell offers an intimate look at his work in it remains, and the use of language in his art and writing. Martorell is the author of many books, including children’s books the colors of (2021) and 2010 obsequial (The Awakening), which brings to life the people in Francisco Oller’s famous painting.
Description: Its title, A/RESTOS, is a play on the verb to arrest, stop and remain, what is left behind … and is Martorell’s response to the environmental and economic crisis affecting his country of Puerto Rico. The work has since become a harbinger of what was to come.
For Martorelli, this work is an act of renewal wrapped up in the creative work that Puerto Rico is going through in response to the debt crises affecting their government. And it is a warning about the dangers of deforestation. The economic trouble began in 2014 when three major credit agencies downgraded some of Puerto Rico’s bond issues to “junk status” after the government could not demonstrate it could repay its debt. With the economy in turmoil, services were disrupted and schools were closed. Jobs were lost, causing more than 140,000 Puerto Ricans to migrate to the United States.
When Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, Puerto Rico was particularly vulnerable. Hurricanes were becoming more severe due to Climate Change and the local government, already hemorrhaging resources, was not ready to respond. On the other hand, the federal government did not prioritize the needs of the island nation and immediately came to their aid. The impetus for the work became even more apparent to Martorelli: that trees must be protected so they can capture carbon from the air, and that Puerto Ricans were alone
The exhibit consists of 24 panels ranging in size from 114” x 65” to 114” x 325”. Each part of the wall is printed on felt and can have wood, aluminum and Scrapie, discarded items. Broken and found objects and traces of trees signify destruction and the memory of what was endured. The exhibition also contains Numbers (Numbers), 2018 – four 48” x 96” wall panels with handwritten numbers, counting the dead from Hurricane Maria. As a result of the hurricane, the local government miscalculated the death toll. The three artists’ books in the show ask the viewer to engage intimately with the significant loss of life that Puerto Rico suffered. The death toll was over 3,000. His detailed work creates an environment that surrounds and penetrates us…making us think about what Puerto Rico had suffered five years ago, the nature of the loss and the damage to be borne.
Antonio Martorell (b. Santurce, PR, 1939) is a printer, painter, draftsman, installation artist, performer, scenographer and costume designer, writer, illustrator and teacher. Martorell is one of the most prolific Puerto Rican artists of the late twentieth and early twentieth centuries and a direct heir to the graphic tradition initiated by the masters of the island’s “Fifties Generation”. After studying diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, he changed his professional course. In 1961, with a scholarship from the Ferré Foundation, he studied painting and drawing under Julio Martín Caro in Madrid. Upon his return to Puerto Rico, he began his printmaking practice under Lorenzo Homar at the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Puerto Rican Cultural Institute. In 1968 he founded Studio Alacrán, one of Puerto Rico’s first independent print studios. Martorell has learned printmaking in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. In his passion for human and artistic expression (which he sees as one), he has created, organized and sponsored countless artistic, community and multimedia events. Martorelli’s prints and paintings communicate his freedom and extraordinary creative talent. He is known for his figurative compositions that show his dedication to portraiture and playful use of language.
For more information, see https://tallerpr.org/a-restos/
