The Indiana Jones of The Art World...

We had a little talk with Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada at Ingnacio de Lassaletta Gallery, where the Cuban-American artist is showing a two-series exhibition: Urban Analogies and Memorialythics. We discovered why Jorges' art is steeped in adventure and what he loves about Barcelona. He even told us how he began this poetical romance with memory and identity.

Why are you interested in the topic of memory?

When I started changing advertising billboards in New York in the the 90s, I became interested in doing something more poetical with my work.  I arrived in Spain in 2002, and immediately fell in love with the textures of the dividing walls between the buildings. When looking at a demolished building you are able to see at a single glance where all the stairs were placed and where all the rooms and were. From there I got the idea of creating pieces using those dividing walls as canvases. It was a different artistic path but I wanted to talk about the people that were there and that is how this game with memory began. A couple of years later I became even more fascinated by forgotten materials that were too recent to stand in a museum but old enough to become icons of time and human memory.

Could you tell us about the people of flesh and bone, immortalized in Urban Analogies and Memorialythics, why did you choose them as a subject?

I chose them for different reasons. One is because they are anonymous yet still hold a strong sense of belonging to a place, and the other is because they are icons. However, entering the gallery is a more intimate process. I find it easier to work with people I appreciate. I enjoy it. They are family, friends and colleagues. So working with materials which are so hard to find makes it all the more poetic.

How do you find the materials you use?

It’s really hard work finding old worn-out materials, something real and not fabricated in the studio. There is an inherent power in material that are two hundred years old which is really important and that is what interests me. I do expeditions, like a rare urban archeologist researching on abandoned towns that don’t even appear on maps. I explore dark warehouses and mansions from the 17th century. I talk to the people who make demolitions and ask them about what they pull down. What they saw. I try to find those stones... It’s a very slow research and a very important part of the artistic creation. I feel like Indiana Jones climbing over rocks and into places full of cobwebs. Then I find a room that was painted one hundred and fifty times by five generations. It’s really special.

Which are your favorite pieces from Urban Analogies and Memorialythics?

I really like them all, but the one of eyes on the bakery poster is a little different from the rest because I don’t know this person like I know the others. When I was taking off the surface I woman came out asking ‘What are you doing?’ And I said: ‘Oh, look, I’ve already talked to the town hall. They said they would get rid of this. So, I’m removing the surface’. Then she responded: ‘Well, just so you to know, this belongs to my family. My grandfather painted that poster and I am the last person in my family line’. I asked her if I could take pictures of her eyes and now, her eyes are watching us from that very old bakery poster.

From Memorialythics I like the pillar. It comes from a small palace built in the 17th century, but the pieces from the column are older than that.

Government technicians came to see if it was an important piecebut they said it wasn’t and that it was going to a landfill so I spoke to the demolition man and asked him to not throw it away because I wanted it.

What would you say your artistic myth of origin is? What drives your creative engine?

In the beginning it was anger. It was the anger over marketing’s manipulation against people. From there I tried to create in a more universal way. I replaced icons chosen for one reason and used them for another reason. It’s a long process. But when you work you get new ideas and you decided whether or not to use them and move on.

What is the coolest thing you find in Barcelona?

The Catalonian essence. It’s a place where women voted and had access to abortion before the rest of the world. I became interested in Barcelona when I was nineteen years old. I read ‘Homage to Catalonia’ by George Orwell and ‘Barcelona’ by Robert Hughes.  There is a story I love; when Franco appeared there was a Catalonian mayor named Robert. Basically, Robert told Madrid, “stop treating us this way or we won’t pay your taxes”. Franco responded, “well, let’s go to war”.

The Catalans saw Robert as a hero and built him a monument which used to be in Plaça Universitat. Today you can see an escalator for the subway there.  The order was to destroy de monument. Stone by stone, Catalonians moved it to a secret warehouse. The Regime fell. Then, stone by stone, Catalonians took the monument out from its hiding place and put it in the middle of Plaça de Tetuan. That tenacity it something I really appreciate from Barcelona.

Art - Artists