“Así es Puerto Rico” with Luis Germán Cajiga
The great Puerto Rican artist, Luis Germán Cajiga, honored us by exhibiting his paintings in our gallery and shared with our community part of his history, the beginnings of his art, and some of the wisdom he has gained during the past 80 years.
His pieces are widely recognized across the globe, and they decorate the homes of millions of Puerto Ricans. They are a symbol of culture that has been passed on for generations creating a strong and meaningful connection between the past and the present.
Cajiga was born in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. From a young age he knew he had a talent for painting, so he looked for a way to make it in the art world. “I saw in a magazine how Doña Inés, the wife of the Puerto Rican governor, had helped a painter, Alfonso Arán, go study in Paris. So, I said to myself, caramba! If she helped him, I better go and try it too.”
So, he wrote her a letter which he sent along with two paintings made on cardboard with tempera. Doña Inés invited him to San Juan for an interview and decided to help the young aspiring painter by enrolling him in an art school and providing him with a place to live, her own home.
Thanks to her help he spent six years learning from the best Puerto Rican artists of the time at the San Juan's Community Education Division studio before being recruited by the U.S army. Although, he said between laughs, he was hoping Doña Inés would send him to study in Europe.
“When I got there they introduced me to Lorenzo Omar, the graphics workshop director, and he put me in a classroom with a drawing table and said, sit down and start working,” Cajiga explained. “But, I wanted to learn, I wanted to be taught, so I started leaving the classroom and looking over the shoulder to see what the greats were doing. That’s how I started gaining their respect until finally they started to teach me.”
He learned painting, serigraphy, and engravings. That is when he fell in love with the city and since then his art has always been a testament to his love for San Juan and Puerto Rico’s people, his paintings include almost every single street in the capital. With his art he wants to show the world what Puerto Rico is and what Puerto Rico has been. Thus, his pieces are characterized by typical scenes or landscapes with figures like the “jíbaro,” the traditional Puerto Rican countryside male.
Cajiga has passed on Puerto Rican culture for the past 50 years and shows no signs of stopping. “As long as I feel love for Puerto, for my people, for the lives of the poor, and for the streets of San Juan,” he said, “As long as I feel that love, I will keep on painting what Puerto Rico is.”
The exhibit, called “Así es Puerto Rico” is currently on display at La Galería until August 15th. For more information click here....