WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.819 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You know, usually, 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:05.320 usually when we sit down and talk about an artist, 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.759 we're working with a full deck of cards. Right. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.259 We have a, you know, a thick biography. Yeah. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:13.320 A glossy coffee table book or interviews, letters 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:15.699 to their lovers, maybe even a manifesto or two. 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.679 We have this clear, high definition picture of 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:21.640 the human being. We usually have a narrative 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:23.399 that's already been written for us. Exactly. 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:25.730 Yeah. But today. Well, today is different. Today, 00:00:25.850 --> 00:00:28.789 we're kind of working with ghosts. We are looking 00:00:28.789 --> 00:00:31.769 at the life of a Cuban artist named Juan Andres 00:00:31.769 --> 00:00:35.229 Rodriguez. But if you type his name into Google, 00:00:35.429 --> 00:00:38.609 you don't get a life story. No, you really don't. 00:00:38.630 --> 00:00:40.590 You don't get a video essay. You basically just 00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:43.329 get a data set. It's a list of dates, a list 00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:46.840 of exhibitions, and one very specific. Very mysterious 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.219 nickname. It really is an exercise in art historical 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:51.359 forensics today. We're taking these fragments 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.979 and trying to build a real person out of them. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:55.859 And the nickname is the first clue that hooks 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:58.219 you. He wasn't just Juan. He was known as El 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:01.240 Monche. The monk. The monk. Now, our mission 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:03.960 today for you listening is to take these digital 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.640 breadcrumbs, specifically his exhibition records 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.299 from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and his entry in 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:12.200 the definitive source, Memoria Cuban Art of the 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:14.409 20th Century. and we're going to reconstruct 00:01:14.409 --> 00:01:17.150 who this man was. We're trying to understand 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:20.230 how someone can be a monk, a primitive artist, 00:01:20.450 --> 00:01:22.689 and a union member all at the same time. Right, 00:01:22.769 --> 00:01:25.030 and that combination of labels is exactly why 00:01:25.030 --> 00:01:27.930 this is worth doing. It challenges how we categorize 00:01:27.930 --> 00:01:30.870 artists. Definitely. I mean, we tend to think 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:33.890 of... folk artists or you know outsider artists 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:36.230 one thing and professional artists as another 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:39.290 rodriguez seems to have existed right in the 00:01:39.290 --> 00:01:42.030 gray zone between them which is a very difficult 00:01:42.030 --> 00:01:44.510 place to balance for an entire career it's incredibly 00:01:44.510 --> 00:01:47.109 rare so let's start with the hard facts the bedrock 00:01:47.109 --> 00:01:50.069 who was juan andres rodriguez before he became 00:01:50.069 --> 00:01:52.349 a legend well we know he was born in november 00:01:52.349 --> 00:01:55.349 1930 and crucially he was born in sancti spiritus 00:01:55.349 --> 00:01:58.069 which is a province in central cuba and the records 00:01:58.069 --> 00:02:01.290 show he died right there in 1995. That geography 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:03.790 stands out to me immediately. In the art world, 00:02:03.950 --> 00:02:06.069 there's usually this, I don't know, this magnetic 00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:08.389 pull toward the capital. It doesn't matter if 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:11.710 it's Paris, New York, or Havana. If you want 00:02:11.710 --> 00:02:13.610 to be someone, the conventional wisdom is that 00:02:13.610 --> 00:02:15.409 you pack your bags and move to the big city. 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:18.229 But Rodriguez stays put. He does. He lives his 00:02:18.229 --> 00:02:21.919 entire life, about 64, 65 years. anchored in 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.500 sanctus spiritus. And that immediately tells 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:26.659 us something about his artistic practice and 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:28.520 his personality. Yeah, he wasn't chasing the 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:30.819 Havana cocktail circuit. Exactly. He wasn't trying 00:02:30.819 --> 00:02:33.000 to be the toast of the Vedado galleries. He was 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.159 building something intensely local. Which feeds 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.300 right into the nickname, right? El Manger. Yeah. 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:41.860 The monk. When I see the monk attached to a guy 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:44.419 who never left his home province, I'm picturing 00:02:44.419 --> 00:02:46.740 a recluse. Sure. I'm picturing someone shut away 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:49.219 in a dusty studio, maybe a bit detached from 00:02:49.219 --> 00:02:51.919 reality, just painting by candlelight. It's a 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.400 very romantic, very tempting assumption. The 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.000 monk implies asceticism. It implies solitude, 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.900 you know, a dedication to a higher calling, perhaps 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:03.560 at the expense of social interaction. We love 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:05.960 the idea of the lonely genius in art history. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:08.939 But the data doesn't back that up at all. This 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:11.699 is where the detective work gets messy. Because 00:03:11.699 --> 00:03:14.060 you simply do not find hermits in the membership 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:17.039 roles of national labor unions. That is the first 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:19.400 major contradiction we have to grapple with here. 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.419 The records show he was a member of UNIA. The 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:26.360 Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba from 1969 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:29.439 until his death in 1995. OK, for listeners who 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:31.240 aren't familiar with the Cuban structure, let's 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:33.780 unpack that. What does that membership actually 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:35.939 signify? Is it just a rubber stamp or does it 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:38.599 mean he was actually out there pressing the flesh? 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.259 It is definitely not just a rubber stamp, especially 00:03:41.259 --> 00:03:45.300 not starting in 1969. Unié is the official organ 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:48.199 of cultural production in Cuba. Being a member 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:50.919 means you are a recognized professional. So it's 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:52.879 a big deal. A huge deal. It means you have access 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.199 to materials, which is vital. It means you're 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:57.240 invited to meetings. You're part of the state's 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.280 cultural apparatus. It implies a level of bureaucracy 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.500 and social integration that is the exact opposite 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:06.860 of being a social outlier. So we have the monk 00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:09.219 who is actually a card -carrying professional 00:04:09.219 --> 00:04:11.460 networker. Or at least someone who understood 00:04:11.460 --> 00:04:14.750 that. To survive as an artist, you need to be 00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:17.490 part of the system. You can have the soul of 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:20.790 a monk, but if you want canvas and paint, you 00:04:20.790 --> 00:04:22.870 need the card of a union member. That's a great 00:04:22.870 --> 00:04:25.629 way to put it. He's pragmatic, but there is another 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:28.029 layer to his background that makes the monk persona 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:30.649 even more complex, and that's his education. 00:04:31.029 --> 00:04:34.050 Right. The file mentions he studied at the Central 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:37.329 Vocational de Artes Plasticas in Sancti Spiritus. 00:04:37.350 --> 00:04:39.899 Which means he went to art school. Exactly. He 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:42.019 didn't just pick up a brush one day because he 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:44.319 had a vision or a fever dream. He was trained. 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.259 He learned perspective, color theory, composition, 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:50.980 art history. He had a formal vocational foundation 00:04:50.980 --> 00:04:54.060 in how to actually make art. OK, hold that thought, 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:55.740 because this is where I got stuck when I was 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:57.740 looking at the sources. This is the knot in the 00:04:57.740 --> 00:04:59.879 rope. We have a trained artist. We have a union 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:02.680 member. And then I look at his exhibition history, 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.360 specifically this entry from 1976. He's in a 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.100 show in Kingston, Jamaica. At the Institute of 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:11.819 Jamaica, a very prestigious venue. But look at 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:13.779 the title of the show. It's called An Exhibition 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:17.959 of 11 Cuban Primitive Artists. Primitive. How 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.079 does an art school graduate, a union member, 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:22.620 a guy who knows the rules, get labeled primitive? 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:25.660 Usually that word is reserved for untrained, 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:28.000 naive artists, right? Right. Like the Grandma 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.459 Moses style. The whole, I don't know, perspective, 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:32.180 so I'm just going to paint what I feel style. 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:34.959 This is one of those moments where art history 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.259 terms get very slippery and very fascinating. 00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:41.459 In the 1970s Caribbean context, primitive didn't 00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:44.680 necessarily mean clueless or unskilled. It really 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:46.759 wasn't an insult. So it was more of a branding 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:49.579 thing. In many ways, yes. It referred to an aesthetic. 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:52.480 It meant art that looked raw, direct, perhaps 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.860 connected to folklore or Afro -Cuban traditions 00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:58.420 rather than the polished academic realism that 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:00.199 came from the European tradition. But if you 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:02.079 went to the vocational center. He knew how to 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.660 paint correctly. He knew how to make a hand look 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:06.459 like a hand and a building look like a building. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:08.720 Which implies that his primitive style was a 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.519 deliberate choice. And that is a fascinating 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:14.540 distinction. Juan Andres Rodriguez wasn't a primitive 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:17.579 by accident. He was a primitive by design. He 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.360 likely unlearned or deliberately chose to ignore 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:24.220 certain academic rules to achieve a specific 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:27.800 emotional effect. That. Changes the narrative 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.879 completely. It's not, I don't know how to draw 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:32.759 hands. It's, I am drawing hands this way because 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.160 it fits the spirit of the work. Precisely. It's 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.079 the difference between being unable to speak 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:39.399 a language and choosing to speak in slang because 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.220 it conveys more flavor. And look at the prestige 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:44.779 of that show again. He is representing Cuba internationally. 00:06:45.769 --> 00:06:47.490 Right. The Institute of Jamaica isn't a coffee 00:06:47.490 --> 00:06:50.389 shop. Exactly. For the Cuban state to send him 00:06:50.389 --> 00:06:52.649 there as one of the 11, it means they viewed 00:06:52.649 --> 00:06:55.290 his work as quintessential to that specific Cuban 00:06:55.290 --> 00:06:58.149 identity. They were proud of this primitive monk. 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:01.250 So he's navigating two worlds. He has the credentials 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:03.350 of the academic world. He has the diploma on 00:07:03.350 --> 00:07:05.889 the wall. But he is the soul of the folk world. 00:07:06.009 --> 00:07:08.550 And the moniker El Monge might be the bridge 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.899 between them. think about it if you adopt a persona 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:14.319 if you become the monk you are signaling that 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.120 you are stepping out of the ordinary secular 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:18.779 world you're entering a spiritual or mythical 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:22.819 space yes it gives you permission to paint like 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:26.160 a primitive a monk doesn't need to paint photorealism 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.939 a monk paints visions speaking of visions and 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:32.040 mythical spaces we have to talk about what he 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.399 was actually painting Because while we don't 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.660 have the images in front of us, the exhibition 00:07:36.660 --> 00:07:38.860 titles give us a massive clue. You're looking 00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:42.740 at the 1990 show. Yes, 1990. A solo exhibition 00:07:42.740 --> 00:07:45.500 at the Marty Library in Santa Clara. The title 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:48.759 is Guiges del Monge. This is the key to the lock. 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:51.139 This title tells us so much about his mindset. 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:53.240 For you listeners who haven't brushed up on your 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:55.980 Caribbean folklore lately, what exactly is a 00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:58.579 guige? A guige is a staple of Cuban mythology, 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:00.980 specifically out in the countryside. They're 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:03.560 usually described as small, dark, elf -like creatures 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.220 that live in rivers or lagoons. Kind of like 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:08.980 water sprites. Yeah, they have big eyes. They 00:08:08.980 --> 00:08:11.819 are mischievous, sometimes a bit malevolent. 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:14.199 They are the tricksters of the water. They're 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:15.939 basically the things parents tell their kids 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:17.959 about to keep them away from the riverbank at 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.360 night. So he dedicates a massive solo show to 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:23.540 these river goblins. But look at the grammar 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:29.799 of the title again. Not just the guillets. He 00:08:29.799 --> 00:08:32.580 is claiming them. He isn't just illustrating 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:34.779 a children's book or documenting a local story. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.480 He is presenting his specific personal vision 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:41.220 of these creatures. It suggests an obsession. 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:43.779 It suggests he spent a lot of time thinking about 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:45.580 these figures. It connects back to the primitive 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:47.980 style, too. If you're trying to capture the energy 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:51.059 of a magical river creature, you probably don't 00:08:51.059 --> 00:08:53.000 want it to look like a photograph. No, not at 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.139 all. You want it to look weird. You want it to 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:57.039 look jagged. You want it to feel a little bit 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.379 scary. Exactly. The primitive style is the perfect 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:03.289 vehicle for the mythology. And the fact that 00:09:03.289 --> 00:09:06.149 he calls himself El Monge in the title, he's 00:09:06.149 --> 00:09:08.509 putting his persona right next to the subject 00:09:08.509 --> 00:09:11.389 matter, the monk and the goblins. There is a 00:09:11.389 --> 00:09:14.049 real tension there between the holy ascetic name 00:09:14.049 --> 00:09:17.570 and these mischievous earthly spirits. It creates 00:09:17.570 --> 00:09:19.970 this image of him as a sort of local shaman. 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:22.450 He's the guy in Sancti Spiritus who knows what 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:25.110 the river spirits look like. He's the one documenting 00:09:25.110 --> 00:09:27.269 them. And remember the timing on this. This is 00:09:27.269 --> 00:09:29.909 1990. Just five years before he dies. Right. 00:09:30.330 --> 00:09:33.009 This feels like a culmination. He has spent decades 00:09:33.009 --> 00:09:35.549 working, and now, toward the end of his life, 00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:37.970 he is synthesizing his persona and his subject 00:09:37.970 --> 00:09:40.850 matter into one definitive statement. I am the 00:09:40.850 --> 00:09:43.350 monk, and these are my greechies. But he didn't 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:46.570 just arrive at 1990 out of nowhere. If we back 00:09:46.570 --> 00:09:49.730 up just a few years to the late 80s, the data 00:09:49.730 --> 00:09:51.710 shows something incredible happening. I call 00:09:51.710 --> 00:09:54.090 it the hot streak. Oh, the awards list. I love 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.090 this part of the file. It's wild. So he enters 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:58.529 the salon Oscar Fernandez Marrera. It's the big 00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:00.610 provincial art competition of Sancti Spiritus. 00:10:00.669 --> 00:10:03.210 And just to clarify for the audience, these salons 00:10:03.210 --> 00:10:05.789 are a very big deal in Cuba. They are the primary 00:10:05.789 --> 00:10:08.289 way artists get recognized, get funding, and 00:10:08.289 --> 00:10:11.129 get seen. And the Oscar Fernandez Marrera is 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:15.379 a serious venue. Okay, so in 1987. He wins the 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:18.399 prize in drawing. Impressive. Good year. 1988, 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.120 he returns. And he wins the prize in drawing 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.940 again. Which is already very difficult to do. 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:26.240 Juries usually like to spread the love around. 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:28.559 They really don't like giving the money to the 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.659 same guy twice in a row. But then, 1989 comes 00:10:31.659 --> 00:10:34.379 around. And he wins the prize in drawing a third 00:10:34.379 --> 00:10:37.779 time. Three consecutive years. A three -peat 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:40.620 in the art world. That is dominance, pure and 00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:42.940 simple. In the context of a provincial salon, 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.440 that is basically the jury saying, we have no 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:47.299 choice. We might want to give it to someone else, 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:50.059 but this man is simply better than everyone else 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:52.059 right now. And it's specifically in the category 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:54.360 of drawing. That matters immensely. We were just 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:56.500 talking about his primitive style. Often critics 00:10:56.500 --> 00:10:58.519 of naive art will say, oh, they just use bright 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:00.360 colors to hide the fact that they can't draw. 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:03.039 They hide behind the style. But here, Juan Andres 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.019 Rodriguez is winning the drawing prize, repeatedly. 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:09.389 Drawing is the skeleton. You can't hide in a 00:11:09.389 --> 00:11:11.549 drawing. It's just a line on the paper. Exactly. 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:14.649 If the drawing is bad, the art is bad. So for 00:11:14.649 --> 00:11:17.029 the monk to dominate the drawing category suggests 00:11:17.029 --> 00:11:19.830 his line work, his drafting, his fundamental 00:11:19.830 --> 00:11:22.889 skills were undeniable. It proves that his style 00:11:22.889 --> 00:11:25.769 wasn't a crutch. It was a weapon. That's a brilliant 00:11:25.769 --> 00:11:28.340 way to phrase it. He had mastered the medium 00:11:28.340 --> 00:11:31.240 of drawing so thoroughly that he owned that category 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.279 for three years straight. It really reinforces 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:36.639 the idea that El Manger wasn't some outsider 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.299 stumbling through the art world. He was a heavyweight. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.720 He was the king of the hill and sancti spiritus. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.519 And that brings up the issue of his reach. Because 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.399 looking at this list, seeing him dominate the 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:49.740 local awards, you might think, OK, big fish, 00:11:49.879 --> 00:11:52.860 small pond. He wins in Sancti Spiritus. He lives 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:55.519 in Sancti Spiritus. Was he stuck there? The exhibition 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.960 list suggests otherwise. We already mentioned 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:00.500 Jamaica in 76. That puts him on the international 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:03.419 map. But look at the domestic map. It's just 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:06.799 as impressive. Yeah. 1971, Havana. Yeah. The 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:09.419 Spanish -Cuban Friendship Society. And it's listed 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:11.639 as a solo show. That is very early in his career 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:13.600 to be showing alone in the Capitol. He was barely 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.980 40. That means the Havana critics were already 00:12:15.980 --> 00:12:18.639 watching him. And then we see him in Cienfuegos 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:23.139 in 1976 for the Salon Pintores Villareños. And 00:12:23.139 --> 00:12:25.940 even posthumously in Santiago de Cuba in 1996. 00:12:26.419 --> 00:12:28.860 So think about the geography there. Havana is 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:32.139 the west. Santiago is the far east. Cienfuegos 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:34.600 is central. He covered the entire island. Why 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:37.159 does that matter so much? Because today we just 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.159 post a picture on Instagram and the whole world 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.600 sees it in five seconds. But in 1970s Cuba... 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:45.220 It was physically difficult. Moving art across 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:47.919 the island requires logistics. It requires crating. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:50.379 It requires a truck. It requires government approval. 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:53.259 For an artist from the provinces to have that 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:55.840 kind of geographic footprint... means the institutions 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.039 really valued him. The system worked for him. 00:12:58.179 --> 00:12:59.840 It debunks the myth that you have to live in 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:02.480 Havana to matter. It absolutely does. He proved 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:04.820 that you could stay home, stay the monk, keep 00:13:04.820 --> 00:13:06.899 your roots deep in the soil of Sancti Spiritus, 00:13:06.980 --> 00:13:09.240 and still have your voice heard in Kingston and 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:11.620 Havana. He didn't have to compromise his location 00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:14.059 to build his legacy. I want to pivot to the so 00:13:14.059 --> 00:13:17.419 what here. We've reconstructed this life. Educated, 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.840 labeled primitive, obsessed with river mythology, 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.200 dominant in drawing, widely traveled but locally 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:27.259 rooted. But we are only able to do this because 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:30.820 of one specific source. Memoria. Yeah. The entry 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:33.240 on Wikipedia cites Memoria, Cuban art of the 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.799 20th century, basically for everything. It is 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:37.899 the Bible of Cuban art history. It's a massive 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.139 undertaking. Without the work of Jose Vegas, 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.299 Christina Vives, and that whole team, El Monche 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:45.799 might just be a rumor. It's terrifying to think 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:48.360 about how fragile this legacy is. He died in 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:51.629 1995. That's the pre -digital era for Cuba. If 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:53.370 he hadn't made it into that physical book. He 00:13:53.370 --> 00:13:56.700 disappears. The prize is in 1988. forgotten, 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.600 the Guiges exhibition. Just a fading memory for 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.379 the handful of people who walked into that library 00:14:01.379 --> 00:14:03.759 in Santa Clara in 1990. It makes you realize 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:06.019 that what we consider art history is just the 00:14:06.019 --> 00:14:07.539 stuff that got written down. It's not necessarily 00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:09.500 the best stuff, just the recorded stuff. It is 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:11.419 a survivorship bias. We know the ones who made 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:13.159 it into the books. We know the ones who had loud 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.840 dealers. But this investigation into El Monche 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:18.679 makes me ask a bigger, almost haunting question. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.500 What's that? How many other Monches are there? 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:25.100 Oh, wow. Right. Think about it. Every province 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:27.320 in every country probably has a figure like this. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.480 Someone who is locally famous, who wins the prizes 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.399 year after year, who has a unique, eccentric 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:36.179 vision. Maybe they paint local ghosts. Maybe 00:14:36.179 --> 00:14:38.360 they build sculptures out of trash. But they 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:40.259 never moved to the capital. They never got the 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:42.860 big monograph. And so when they die, the breadcrumbs 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:45.460 just blow away. Exactly. Juan Andres Rodriguez 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:48.840 is a success story because we found the breadcrumbs. 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:51.480 Because someone put them in a book. But there 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.200 are likely thousands of artists of equal caliber 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:57.440 whose digital breadcrumbs were never digitized. 00:14:57.460 --> 00:14:59.960 They are just gone. That is a haunting thought. 00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:03.360 We are looking at a map of art history that has 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.860 these huge blank spots where the local legends 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:07.899 used to be. And it changes your responsibility 00:15:07.899 --> 00:15:10.940 as a viewer, doesn't it? It changes how you should 00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:13.230 walk through the world. It means you can't just 00:15:13.230 --> 00:15:15.710 rely on the MoMA or the Tate or the National 00:15:15.710 --> 00:15:18.490 Museum to tell you what is good. You can't just 00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:20.710 wait for the algorithm to serve it to you. You 00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:22.889 have to look at your own backyard. You have to 00:15:22.889 --> 00:15:24.809 go to the provincial salons. You have to go to 00:15:24.809 --> 00:15:28.070 the library exhibitions in Santa Clara or wherever 00:15:28.070 --> 00:15:30.429 you live because that is where the monks are 00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:33.470 hiding. That is the takeaway. For you listening, 00:15:33.649 --> 00:15:35.990 the next time you see a flyer for a small local 00:15:35.990 --> 00:15:38.850 art show or a primitive artist exhibiting at 00:15:38.850 --> 00:15:41.200 a community center. Go take a look. Don't write 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:42.980 it off. You might be looking at a master who 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:44.899 just hasn't been indexed yet. You might be seeing 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:47.220 the guijas before they disappear. And write it 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:51.039 down. Put it on Wikipedia. Start a blog. Leave 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.000 a trail. Please. Future historians and future 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.799 art lovers will thank you. Well, we have certainly 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.500 uncovered a fascinating life today. From the 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:02.139 river spirits of Sancti Spiritus to the galleries 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:06.190 of Jamaica, Juan Andres Rodriguez El Monge. A 00:16:06.190 --> 00:16:08.870 name worth remembering and a reminder that greatness 00:16:08.870 --> 00:16:11.690 is often hiding in plain sight. Absolutely. A 00:16:11.690 --> 00:16:13.850 fascinating journey. That's it for this deep 00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:15.889 dive. Thanks for joining us on the hunt. Always 00:16:15.889 --> 00:16:18.529 a pleasure. Stay curious and we'll catch you 00:16:18.529 --> 00:16:19.110 in the next one.