El Museo Essay #2

Dear Rodriguez Calero,

I recently visited El Museo Del Barrio and was profound of your work from the way you expressed your belief and culture into your composition. Taking a stroll around the museum and witnessing your exhibits I noticed the use of your work incorporating bold statements. From the use of color and distorted figures it has the viewer to pause and understand or relate what you're trying to communicate. These exhibits are something I haven't come across from museums I've encountered, your work, its unique and the way you express them relating to today's society. A display that caught my attention is a collage by Rodriguez Calero titled Picture of Inner Clarity (1997). The canvas includes the monochromatic use of red and shades, with geometric shapes, and a boy in the center with blood on his face with a circular frame around him. I questioned myself "Why would she title this canvas but the appearance is represented in a opposing way?" Although others might interpret this acrollage differently my idea on this is the frame surrounding the boy covered in blood is a window or a portal. Seeking more details from the work of art, what are the engravings around the child? Coming back to the boy, the blood I believe to be is restraint as well pain. A time someone goes through at a certain point in their life resulting to being complicated to find clarity. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. Is the acrollage something your hinting to the observer of what you personally feel or what we all sense? What influenced you to portray this particular work in a dark way?  Why not make it noticeably obvious or simple? What is the purpose of the geometric shapes surrounding the boy? Is it a way of being suffocated or does it symbolize our issues being overwhelmed and the child is us when it was uncomplicated. What is the child in the acrollage suppose to represent? Is there one specific interpretation or does it depend on an aesthetic emotion from the observer? Overall, I found this exhibit interesting as well you didn't make it seem overly religious. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Joanna Castelan