El Museo Essay

Dear Rodriguez Calero,
I recently visited El Museo de Barrio and was fascinated by one of your works of art entitled "Dancers" (1982). I read that you have titled the unique medium of your art as "Acrollage" and I had some questions about how you created your own style. I notice that you use a combination of paint and collage in your artwork, how did you decide on this combination? Was there one medium over the other that you preferred first? And if so, when did you decide to incorporate the two together to create your Acrollage's? I also noticed that on this particular work you used printed paper as your canvas. Is there a reason why you used a page from a book or magazine to paint and collage on? Does the use of this canvas have any significance in your art or were you simply using the materials available to you at the time?
I also have some questions about your creative process. When creating your acrollage's, do you start with the painting or with the cut outs for you collage? Do you see the images in your mind before you begin or is your creative process more free form, deciding what you do as you go along?
I was also wondering what the motivation behind this particular artwork was? I notice that you have combined several styles of art from different time periods to create this piece. Both the man and woman appear very well dressed but the woman's face is a collage in the style of ancient Greek sculpture and the mans face is painted in much more of an abstract style, reminiscent of Picasso. What was the significance of using these two very different styles in this particular work of art? Where you trying to signify the different roles of men and women in society or did you simply choose these different styles because you found them aesthetically pleasing?
When I first observed this work of art I noticed the dichotomy between the majestic and beautiful forms of the dancers and the somewhat disturbing and terrifying depictions of their faces. What exactly was your intent when you created this artwork? Is this artwork a commentary on upper class society? Upon first glance I felt that you were trying to stress a point about the ugliness and gilded falsehood of the upper class, dressed beautifully but ugly on the inside. Was this your intention when you created this artwork? Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Charles Tye Miller