{"id":11924,"date":"2015-08-06T03:12:02","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T03:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-this-is-one-of-12-rain-forest-landscapes\/"},"modified":"2018-12-05T17:08:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T00:08:43","slug":"cinoh-this-is-one-of-12-rain-forest-landscapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-this-is-one-of-12-rain-forest-landscapes\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-11924 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-this-is-one-of-12-rain-forest-landscapes\/attachment\/11925\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nsmsdjl3ub1rgktkgo1_1280-100x100.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/cinoh.tumblr.com\/post\/125962238331\">cinoh<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is one of 12 rain forest landscapes by Abel Rodriguez, part of his ink-and-watercolor series Ciclo anual del bosque de la vega (Seasonal changes in the flooded rain forest).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2015\/08\/05\/426751933\/Courtesy\">Abel Rodriguez\/Courtesy of Tropenbos International, Colombia<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>A Self-Taught Artist Paints The Rain Forest By Memory<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Looking at the painting above, it\u2019s easy to imagine the artist spent days, weeks maybe, observing the rain forest to get the details right. Off to the right, a large bird perches on a branch. Turtles and fish swim in the river. Several species of trees reach upward, vying for light through the forest canopy.<\/p>\n<p>The artist painted it all by memory.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the paintings of Abel Rodriguez are on display at the <a href=\"http:\/\/museum.oas.org\/exhibitions\/2010s\/2015-waterweavers.html\">Art Museum of the Americas<\/a> in Washington D.C., as part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2015\/08\/02\/426893416\/rivers-run-through-this-exhibit-of-colombia-art\">Waterweavers exhibition<\/a>, a celebration of Colombian culture. And his work has captured the attention of art dealers and curators, both in Colombia and here in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Adriana Ospina, the collections curator, tells me Rodriguez\u2019s story as she leads me through the exhibition. He\u2019s a member of the Nonuya indigenous people, from the Caqueta River region of Colombia, close to the rain forest, who have been farmers for centuries. \u201cHis role in the community is to know the plants,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s like a teacher.\u201d Rodriguez\u2019s knowledge, she says, comes from a combination of observation and wisdom passed down from generation to generation.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez\u2019s intimate understanding of plants of the Amazon caught the attention of a Dutch nonprofit organization called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tropenbos.org\/country_programmes\/colombia\">Tropenbos International Colombia<\/a>. This group works with indigenous people to document their natural and cultural practices. They met Rodriguez in the 1980s and realized he was a repository of a vast amount of lore. He taught the Tropenbos scientists to identify local plants and explained which are eaten and which are used for medicinal purposes. With their help, he even created a stunningly illustrated<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tropenbos.org\/publications\/the+plants+cultivated+by+the+people+from+the+center+in+the+colombian+amazon\"> book<\/a> on the plants cultivated by his people.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, increasing armed conflict in the area forced many indigenous people, including Rodriguez, to leave the forest in the 1990s. Now living in Bogota, he continues to mine his lifetime of knowledge of the rain forest to teach others. \u201cI had never drawn before, I barely knew how to write, but I had a whole world in my mind asking me to picture the plants,\u201d Rodriguez told a Tropenbos International interviewer in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tropenbos.org\/news\/local+research+programme:+abel+rodr%C3%ADguez+and+his+inventory+of+plants\">a post<\/a> on the organization\u2019s website. In Bogota, using materials provided by Tropenbos International, Rodriguez began creating paintings and drawings \u2014 entirely from memory.<\/p>\n<p>A selection of his works hang on a gallery wall in the \u201cWaterweavers\u201d exhibition: 12 pieces titled Ciclo anual del bosque de la vega \u2014 seasonal changes in the flooded rain forest. The intricately detailed paintings in ink and watercolor are rendered in delicate shades of green and brown, highlighting leaves and shadows. The paintings show how the rain forest changes as the seasons pass.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, the paintings look similar, but upon closer examination, gradual differences emerge: a tree bursts into leaf; fish and turtles crowd the river and then disappear; the river rises and falls throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to interview Rodriguez. It was not meant to be. The complications of translators who understood the local dialect and international group calls couldn\u2019t be overcome.So I had to turn to the exhibition\u2019s accompanying book, Waterweavers: A Chronicle of Rivers, which includes an interview with Rodriguez, in which he talks about his art via a translator. \u201cI always try to bring out the figures as they should be,\u201d he says. \u201cIt may not be exact, but it does show how the forest is, and that\u2019s the way I\u2019ve gone on painting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he\u2019s not a trained artist,\u201d Ospina says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to be an artist.\u201d Painting is just something he does. When in the Waterweavers book Rodriguez is asked how he makes his art, he replies, \u201cwith my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He seems more eager to describe the subjects of the paintings themselves, which he does with an attention to detail gained from years of careful observation:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis painting includes the larger trees, such as the mara\u00f1\u00f3n and the higuer\u00f3n, and various seed- and fruit-producing trees eaten by animals, which are painted first. Then come the smaller trees, such as the a\u00e7ai palm, the large guama, a carguero de dormil\u00f3n, another larger lecythis, the sangre toro, and the bombona and yavar\u00edpalms. The small ones give depth to the mountain, in my opinion. When the river is high, these lowlands are flooded, and so all the animals that would usually be here, are now in higher parts. During the summer months (December and January), fish start going up the river because they know that the water is going to rise, and they\u2019re looking for the overflows to enjoy the abundance of worms and seeds. When the waters begin to rise, worms are brought out of the ground, and the fish eat them; the other animals begin to migrate further into the forest. The monkeys stay because they like to look at their reflection, as ugly as it is, in the water. They descend along the lower branches and approach the water\u2019s edge; and then see that there\u2019s another monkey down there. That\u2019s how they amuse themselves. That\u2019s why, when the river is high, you\u2019ll see more monkeys by the river than you will in higher areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s not only a gifted artist but he clearly has literary talents as well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>cinoh: This is one of 12 rain forest landscapes by Abel Rodriguez, part of his ink-and-watercolor series Ciclo anual del bosque de la vega (Seasonal changes in the flooded rain forest). Abel Rodriguez\/Courtesy of Tropenbos International, Colombia A Self-Taught Artist Paints The Rain Forest By Memory Looking at the painting above, it\u2019s easy to imagine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-words","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-36k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11926,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11924\/revisions\/11926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}