Rene' Portocarrero

Rene Portocarrero was a 20^th century Cuban artist who began his training at the young age of 14 and quickly became a bull in the industry of art, rebelling against the academies that educated him and going rogue as an artist. After becoming a professor in art himself, he began his travels to Haiti, Europe, and the US, and ultimately landed in New York where he defined himself as a ceramics and mural artist. His work is simple, colorful and strong in line and concept. Portocarrero’s work paid off in landing him several exhibits throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the Museums of Modern Arts of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York, and San Francisco and the National Museum in Havana. He is arguably one of the most famous artists to come out the Caribbean, let alone Cuba.

Portocarrero’s work became well known because of his style: mentally develop the painting as the brush hits the canvas. His spontaneously style of painting created a very hybrid form of art – brushy, stylized art that captures the natural handling of the paint, with modern subject matter. He is a perfect example of Caribbean Modern Art.

Portocarrero’s color palette is especially inspiring. His work varies from using muddy tones with pops of saturation, to pure saturated color on a neutral canvas with strong use of line. Cerro, Interior, is an example of one of his muddier and brushier pieces. His heavy use of paint is evident in providing a blurry sense of atmosphere from fat brushstrokes. The details of the painting are vague and difficult to make out outside large organic shapes. His thick brushstrokes allows for thick strokes of broken color that make up the woman’s skin tone and dress. Her arms especially pop, with some unexpected color combinations.

Portocarrero’s portfolio is all over the place between geometric and organic shapes, saturated and dull color, hard lines and soft brushstrokes. I admire his array of talent, however, in terms of inspiration, I choose to focus on the pieces that include brushy techniques and saturated color. His pieces with a more simple use of line and strong color strike me in how effective they are in reflecting Caribbean motifs. They also, for the most part, include feather-like headdresses on profiles of women, which is intriguing to say the least to a student of Caribbean art. His work as a whole impresses me, especially in terms of his range, and his choice of Caribbean women as his subject matter.

Rene' Portocarrero. Cernuda Arte. 2002-2011. Web. 11 August 2011. <http://www.cernudaarte.com/cgi-local/artists.cgi?aid=44>.