PST:LA/LA

“PROMESA” by Sofia Maldonado. This site-specific “space intervention” mural is abstract. She conceptualizes empty architectural structures as gigantic canvases to be transformed by her vigorous painting process. The visual language of PROMESA opens a dialogue about space defined by color, abstraction, and human interaction. She painted with her preferred Caribbean color palette of tropical shades and tints, enveloping MoLAA’s exterior wall in swathes of multicolored hues. Instead of “mural”, Sofia prefers to call the work a “space intervention” to transform the blank vastness of concrete into a work of art, allowing the viewer to have an experiential dialogue.

The artist describes PROMESA as an “ephemeral public art piece”. In this abstract mural, she references the Caribbean. She masterfully mixes the colorful tropical hues with the element of line work, conveying a lyrical, poetic language through the expressive emotion of color and the dynamic energy of line.

TITLE

Maldonado’s “space-intervention” addresses a contradictory duality of the word used as its title. The title “PROMESA” is ironic because it means “promise” in English. But for Puerto Rico’s people, the title also references the new law that the U.S.A. Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act. According to many Puerto Ricans, the P.R.O.M.E.S.A. law does little to fix the island's deeply rooted, long-term underlying problems. It is considered by many to be a humiliating insult to Puerto Rico’s aspiration of autonomy vis-à-vis the USA.

MEDIUM

Maldonado prefers to use Benjamin Moore Paints because she considers them to be of excellent quality. For her application of expressionistic color, she also utilized a cherry picker and a paint sprayer. About this work, the artist said, “I attempted to totally submerge the concrete wall in color, from the bottom to top, every nook and cranny is then brought to life.” ARTIST STATEMENT According to Sofia, “This work is inspired by experiencing the light and tropical colors, the Caribbean way of life.” This project is not just a space intervention; it’s a format that serves as a canvas for public art, initiating a creative interaction between the viewer and the art.

ARTIST’S INTERPRETATION

“PROMESA” portrays Sofía’s vision of the Caribbean landscape, ocean-scape, and the economic reality of Puerto Rico. This work addresses two distinct issues: tourism with its economic ramifications and the environmental impact in the Caribbean. Specific to Puerto Rico, she refers to its current debt crisis by naming this work after the U.S. law that largely governs Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans do not feel like an independent U.S. territory, but rather a little-respected stepchild “colony”. As is typical of colonialism, Puerto Ricans feel in the hopelessness of a FALSE PROMISE. The governmental dependence relationship is one Caribbean islanders know all too well, especially in the tourist industry. Tourism is politically described in the Caribbean as “the second invasion of imperialist land-snatchers.’ Still, instead of clearing land for monocrop production, this international market is clearing coastlines, destroying coral reefs, creating waste and water pollution, and ruining mangrove swamps and other wetland areas. Despite the tourist’s presumed love of nature, the fact remains that mountains, rivers, cities & historical sites do not hold the appeal of the island’s paradise white-sand beaches. The consumption, commercialization & domestication of Caribbean tropical landscapes is a broken ‘promesa’ for its Puerto Rican people, but rather for visiting tourists, an assured “paradise promise”.

PST CONNECTION

Islands in the Caribbean Archipelago share a long colonial history and a common landscape and oceanic ecology. Maldonado puts this polychromatic mural/intervention of the Caribbean in dialogue with the Pacific Ocean, here in Long Beach, to make connections between Latino & Latin American art in greater L.A. “Although geographically similar, there is a lack of communication about the arts between the artists of the Caribbean islands. It is difficult to see the similarities & connective relationships when they haven’t established common ground to exchange ideas and see their visual dialogues. Exhibitions like MoLAA’s “Relational Undercurrents” allow them to become a singular region, the Caribbean Archipelago, coming together and joining their Latin American voices here in Southern California.