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Review by Jose Antonio Pérez Ruiz
English translation by Pavlova M. Greber
The photographic collection produced by Chendo Pérez for this exhibition is quite revealing. Shown in these images is the urban situation of Old San Juan in the early beginnings of the twenty first century. The function of this sequence, which gathers both artistic and documental values, is to serve as a reference for new generations in order to preserve the multi-centenarian legacy that survives in the old urban traces. Details that draw our attention serve as accents that are apparently imperceptible generators of contagious enchantment that embrace the residents and the frequent and occasional visitors alike.
They are details that enter into action as optic counterpoints, interacting simultaneously as testimonials of different eras that coincide in the present. These images gather remnants of the late gothic style that arrived in America. An example of this are the battled walls of the central courtyard of the Fortaleza de Santa Catalina built during the sixteenth century following medieval norms. There are cases in which the passage of time has originated a structural miscegenation, as can be seen with the Cathedral and the church of San José. In them one can observe certain areas of construction that correspond to the guidelines brought by the first colonizers. These coexist with a timid baroque presence and the strong harmonies of neoclassicism, which is the predominant style of the city. In a large part of this hemisphere you will find notable touches of French influence, the impact of modernism, "Art Deco" and the excesses of those that have followed their own instinct. Ultimately, the collection offers a vast register of what is, the essence of San Juan.
Chendo has been able to capture the spirit of these places with contemporary artistic criteria. This requires the adequate use of his work tool, the photographic camera. But he goes beyond that, for the management of the materials in order to bestow dramatic character to the images demands the development of the tonal values that exist between black and white, through which the vitality of the event becomes evident. To transcend the mechanism that serves as the point of departure is the secret to converting the print into art. Similar gradations establish the bonds that evidence the vital pulsations of fruitful human action throughout our long history. The interest of the artist goes further for his intention is to synthesize the comings and goings of human activity in those spaces. One aspect to be noted is the previously required visualization when establishing angles from which to facilitate, for the viewer, the imaginary transfer to those spaces. We are dealing the necessary perseverance to measure and understand light and shadow.
It is a search in which the goal is to find the reciprocity maintained by those antagonistic elements. In this manner the shades lead our gaze to install itself within the representations. These shades have been studied with the object of giving the viewer options in order to be able to leisurely stroll through those spaces. The courtyards constitute good examples for comprehending the latter. In some, the vegetation itself is transformed into the lyric agent that gives way to fantasy. Indeed the observer is consciously or unconsciously driven to measure the incandescence of the reflexes. In doing so, it becomes easier to fleetingly embark towards the interior of those premises, as it happens with the interior arcades of the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. With Ballajá, the artist captured the configurative variations of each level. In doing so he provides those interested an overall view that may sometimes go undetected. I have often thought that the traditional automobile tours have accustomed travelers to concentrate on the first floors of the buildings they pass. In fact, the speed and the limitations of the automobile’s bodywork limit the field of view of many, and it is possible that they only capture fractions of the panorama. The extent of these photographs captivates those who realize the grandeur of the circumstances. Worth mentioning as well is the manner of converting the doors of the old military headquarters into the strategic position from which to calibrate the contrasts that give origin to our sense of depth.
In Chendo's work you will appreciate the tendencies to confront us with reality just as it is presented to his eyes. He nevertheless takes advantage of everything that is offered in the scene to show its beauty without resorting to the cosmetic. To a certain extent, that frankness comes hand in hand with the secrets that are within the walls, sacred places, open spaces and the people. In that same way we are able to capture how the white highlights of the hermitage at the Cementerio de Santa Maria de Pasis appear to confabulate with the luminescence that intertwines with all factors as if responding to a labor of visual silverwork. This instant captures the silence of musical eloquences that exist on sacred grounds. He has chosen strategic angles to focus certain sculptures that guard over the tombs with the purpose of revealing the deaf histrionics of introspective pleas for forgiveness of those laid to rest there. From the marble he extracts vital difficulties destined to bring us closer to credible attitudes of eternal pain. He has also paid attention to artificial light and its projection on all it surrounds. For example, He photographed the door to San Juan in a way that seems to draw you towards the bright lights of paradise. The inscription over the threshold "BENEDICTUS QUI VENII IN NOMINE DOMINI" is consistent with that brightness that awaits the visitor as he enters. The lights fall on the walls and objects in a special way as they gradually disappear into space, as can be observed in the irradiations of the streetlamps of the Paseo de la Princesa that appear to extend softly over a landscape of shapes insinuated by the haze. Within the edifications, the electric lamps appear as rhythmic phosphorescence as if responding to an invariable beat. It is necessary to point out that these sparks, when extending to exteriors, provoke dramatic contrast where shadows extend as somnambulist traces. The manner in which he processes these photographs, in a special way, brings about the transformation of spaces much appropriate for sheltering spirits. The latter affirmation can be corroborated with the image of "La Rogativa", a sculpture executed by Lindsay Daen, a New Zealander of Australian descent, who established his home on the Island. This carving commemorates the ritual to which popular tradition attributed the defeat of the British in 1797. The photographer had the vision to position the end of the Bishop's crosier as if to surround the silhouette of the full moon, representative of the people's hope in finding the right direction in moments of anguish. Another aspect to note is his management of the lens to make scintillate over the silhouettes rays that outline their contours and offer sensations of movement.
I consider it a clever achievement by Chendo to bring to public attention a representative sample of beings with whom we cross paths with during the daily San Juan process. The owner of the laundry with his constant attitude of offering service demonstrates the dignity the he impresses upon his job. The agents of public order are surprised on the daily rounds required by their work. He shows the director of Galeria Coabey in his multiple functions. You see him surrounded by the works of art he offers the public and in his mission as abnegated son in constant vigilance for the well being of his parents. Others included in his mosaic of personages are public maintenance workers, regular patrons and the homeless. In the latter he searches for those remnants of human dignity maintained in spite of existential precarities. We discover a desire to make visible the expectations of hope that announce positive future directions.
The exhibition that we have before us comes at a propitious moment, for it welcomes situations and conditions that are in force at the dawn of the third millennium. It takes into consideration the routine and circumstantial aspects of the present. Many of the photographs possess the potential to generate the kind of nostalgia that does not allow the spiritual to become diluted in the turbulence of the moment. They become a call for the preservation of a legacy that we cannot abandon. It is a document by which present and future generations become witnesses to our inheritance. In these images exists the power originated from the hidden enigmas of the historic trajectory of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In this sense they retain forces analogous to those that arise in poetry. It is about the city to which Noel Estrada sang of illusions, misfortunes and memories of the heart; the San Juan that we can never let go of.
José Antonio Pérez Ruiz was professor of history at the University of Puerto Rico for thirty-five years and is the founder of the International Critics Association, Puerto Rico chapter; organization that he presided for ten years and of which to this day he remains Honorary President.
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