So sorry to have missed the guided tour to the exhibition “Vuelo raso,” which took place yesterday, June 22, 2024, at the Delta de Picó Gallery at Liga de Arte de San Juan (San Juan Art League—an esteemed art school in Old San Juan). “Vuelo raso” [Low flight? Flying low?], which opened in early June, features recent paintings by Andrés Rodríguez Santos, according to Periódico El Adoquín. Here are excerpts about the exhibition, which—lucky for us—is still on view at La Liga.

[. . .] The plastic work of Rodríguez Santos is marked by “a masterful handling of textures,” an aspect with which the artist “manages to render a rich plasticity to the surface of his paintings,” according to painter Rafael Trelles.

Precisely, the pieces in this exhibition show Rodríguez Santos’s intention to focus on creating volume effects on the surface. This volume is reflected in the element of fabrics, visible in most of the works selected by the author to design this exhibition. “The fabrics apparently printed in a linear way give me the opportunity to achieve three-dimensional effects on the surface,” commented Rodríguez Santos, from the town of Yauco. In this exhibition, as expected, the technical aspects of the creative work of the virtuoso of drawing and composition stand out.

Pieces such as “Muñecos para amarres” (2024), “Mapriola en su ámbito” (2021) and “Vuelo de maniquí en interior negro” (2023). They are part of the set of 13 works, made between 2020 and the present, that make up the individual exhibition. The artist has not exhibited in a solo show since “Crónicas y ficción,” held in 2015 at Galería Artífice in Old San Juan.

Regarding the main themes of his artistic work, Rodríguez Santos indicated that “the theme of flight – present from the title of the soon-to-open exhibition – has been in my work consistenly.” For the artist, “this exhibition is, in part, a reunion with previous themes, although treated differently. There are several pieces that include the theme of Mapriola, as the owner of a Yauco brothel was called. In fact, almost all the images of women that appear in this exhibition and in previous ones are related to that character, who represented the owner of the bar, or the one who played the role of matchmaker or pimp,” said the Yauco artist.

“For me the theme is an element that can enrich the work. But, essentially, painting for me is a visual language, so I emphasize the technical aspects of the construction of the painting.” In that sense, the artist considers that his work uses mixed media because “I use several mediums to create it. Sometimes, you can see part of the drawing in charcoal; I normally paint the entire surface in acrylic and the finishes are in oil,” explained the artist.

“I have friends who have exhibited in the Liga de Arte, like Rafael Trelles and José Morales, who are artists who have a good track record. “I feel honored to have been invited to exhibit my work in that space,” the painter conveyed. For her part, Marilú Carrasquillo, executive director of the San Juan Art League, expressed: “for us it is an honor to receive for the first time an artist of Don Andrés’s category and present this beautiful exhibition.”

About Andrés Rodríguez Santos…

Andrés Rodríguez Santos is an artist with a long career in the art world. He has exhibited in more than 20 individual exhibitions and has participated in different international events dedicated to painting, printing, and drawing. For many years, his work has focused on developing iconography that explores human nature, including sexuality, myths, fears, taboos, magic, and popular imagery. The artist addresses these themes with the intention of transgressing social and moral conventions, which, for centuries, have plunged humanity into a state of emotional, imaginative, and expressive modesty. Maintaining technical rigor and a game of dichotomies – figurative, abstract, intuitive, and rational – Rodríguez Santos transmits his experiences throughout the creative process using purely pictorial language.

Translated by Ivette Romero. For the original article (in Spanish) and additional photos, see https://eladoquintimes.com/2024/06/07/vuelo-raso-pinturas-recientes-de-andres-rodriguez-santos-en-la-liga-de-arte-de-san-juan/