Victor D Cartagena`
Author | : Victor D. Cartagena |
Publisher | : AMZ Kindle Direct Publications |
Total Pages | : 277 |
Release | : 2024-02-14 |
ISBN-10 | : |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Book excerpt: In 1985, Cartagena arrived in San Francisco at 19, escaping El Salvador's civil war. He received scholarships from the California Art Council and the Kala Art Institute, becoming a respected member of the art community. Drawing from over 10,500 passport photos acquired in the 1980s, Cartagena's work reflects the faces of Salvadorians seeking asylum during the civil war. His installations, paintings, and video-based artworks explore the plight of immigrants, using life-sized images and creative mediums. One series involves enlarging black and white images to life-size, attached to sticks and leaned against gallery walls. In another, Cartagena uses photo negatives of asylum seekers placed in used tea bags, drawing parallels to low-paid immigrant laborers. Further artistic expressions involve negatives in gelatin pill containers inside glass bottles, symbolizing violence and economic subjugation in El Salvador. Cartagena, influenced by daily news and media, combats what he considers the "anatomy" of lies and inequities. Now in Germany, he views this opportunity as a "great challenge" to share his skills and passion, presenting thought-provoking expressions of his political and personal life. Cartagena's warm reception by German colleagues underscores the power of international artistic exchange in fostering understanding and seeking solutions to global challenges. David J. de la Torre, based in San Francisco, continues his interests in American and Latin American contemporary art, with extensive experience in museum and directorial roles over the past forty years.