The visual arts have been a product of visual delight throughout life, and there are disciplines and limits involved in which various artists have formalized themselves over time. However, nature and standards of beauty have played a great role in the respective artistic compositions, from Greek antiquity to the present. We manifest a kind of mimesis in the face of matter that allows itself to be molded and transformed, to provoke in the viewer so many thoughts and feelings throughout the history of humanity. Certain personalities have been part of this artistic appreciation and criticism, where they focus their visual point on the plastic manifestation, inspired by the master product of nature. However, the appreciation of artistic beauty is changing but maintains its eternity as long as the public is able to detect and contemplate said element. Despite our 21st century reading writings between the 18th and 20th centuries, we still tend to use characteristics of antiquity and the past itself to determine what is beautiful in the contemporary, when we should not mix the determinations of our past with the movements of our present.

Based on the definition of art by Denis Diderot in “Judgement and the Public Sphere”, art is an abstract metaphysics. Man began collecting observations based on nature, and from those materials the function, use and qualities of these beings and their symbols. He gives the name of science or art to the point of focus where they fixed the observation of it, eventually creating a series of instruments and rules aimed at such an object. However, this is a perspective from the 18th century, where we have not yet come across the movements that will little by little break with this perspective. Diderot also adds that the general purpose of art is to impress specific forms on a basic element provided by nature; In order to deform matter, we must first master it in its natural environment, regardless of its shape, size and mass. He implies that the artist must be aware of the complete behavior of his environment, in order to capture and reconstruct.

On the other hand, John Ruskin questions us in his Selections: from “the Realization” (2005) that it is not what we can paint, but how far we can go to paint. How far can humans go using nature to reach an aesthetically beautiful level in art? The elements that each artist decides to be part of a composition are very useful in determining the education, discipline and creativity of this individual. That is, these elements will be highly provocative and close to a possible reality, even if we know that they are not entirely real or existing in nature (like the figures that Ruskin mentions that may be able to move even though they are captured in a two-dimensional medium). ). An individual is also attracted by the beauty, complexity and selection in colors, which provide interest in taking up personal anecdotes while delighting. Something like “taking back the visual aspects as if we were mirrors” and giving them that aesthetic importance. The artist should not be considered good for his ability to manipulate only, but also for the details he employs in his composition.

Johann Winckelmann mentions that one must become familiar with the art of the ancestors, in order to become the best artists, and in this he is right when it comes to creating new trends in art. It is not the fact of imitating the artists of Greek antiquity but because they let themselves be carried away by nature, and in it was perfection. Winckelmann highlights here the mobility of the nerves and muscles in the various structures of the bodies of those pieces that he at some point contemplated by Raphael Sanzio and Michelangelo. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the art of Greek antiquity is the noble simplicity and silent grandeur mixed between posture and expression. The piece of Laoconte and the Sons of him by Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus of Rhodes is taken as an example to highlight the meticulous study of human anatomy such as facial joints, muscle tensions and other parts of the body that reflect the expression of pain without fear. The calmer the state of the body, the more was the ability to portray the real personality of the soul in the midst of sublime suffering. However, it is very notable that these sculpted expressions are not on par with what a human being would actually be feeling or experiencing, but they present the dominance of the human figure in mythological scenes.

In various sections of The Painter of Modern Life (1863), Charles Baudelaire talks about the approach of art fans: not everything is in those high-caliber artists who have demonstrated mastery of the mimesis and classicism that has lasted until then in artists. like Rafael, previously mentioned. The artistic compositions of the past may seem of great interest to us to be able to create today, not only because of the high aesthetic level that these works can express to viewers but also because of their historical and cultural value. However, it is not material to continue saturating as has been customary for centuries. But we can perform this same exercise before the creations of our present; Beauty is an invariable, eternal, and difficult to determine element, which will depend on fashion, time, morality, and passion.

In “The Moment of Art” by Émile Zola, he expresses that a work of art is, on the contrary, an expression of the personality of an individual rather than a mimesis: everything that makes up the artist, his body and soul, is deposited, and that clearly It expresses the strength and uniqueness of his mind, the rawness and strength of his personality, and that he takes nature in his hands to manipulate it firmly in front of us as he decides to perceive it. This means that in the present we have stopped using mimesis to delight in art and little by little the artist is freed to simply produce life, the creation of something never seen by the eyes of the creator and his temperament. Two elements of artistic work are also added to this, which are nature as an element of reality and the human being as a personal element; Unlike the others, Zola provides that esteem so that the rest of the artistic community does not set the limit on the form and aesthetics of nature, but rather that the personal and individual essence of the maker is considered part of the creative process and result.

Beauty and nature have always been progenitors of the greatest designs and artistic creations that have been transformed over time, releasing their freedom to manipulate themselves into forms outside of reality. Depending on the circumstance, history and artistic education, we can also determine those elements that the viewer uses to determine what is art. However, our artists will always start with the legacy of our historical antiquity to leave a small legacy in our society. An element that beauty and nature share are these much-mentioned eternity and evolution, where the viewer focuses his eye and delights in a different element, but in an essential piece of the vital and individual experience of any artist.

Laurencia Victoria

Official Member (2016 – present)

Graphic Designer and Public Relations collaborator

Professor of Digital Graphic Design – NUC University

Master’s Degree in Digital Graphic Design from Atlantic University College

Bachelor’s Degrees in Fine Arts and Art Theory – University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus

In 2016, while I was in the eleventh grade, I had the opportunity to join the Ciudad Museo organization.  As part of my first experience creating murals, the first one I started working with was one aimed at raising awareness about deforestation.  This is called “La Ceiba Speaks for the Others”, which includes as the main image the native ceiba tree, our native trees. The Ceiba was a design created by Bryant López.  Then, a female figure was integrated next to the Ceiba with a sunset background and several cut trees.

Starting our project, the first step was to prepare our large white canvas on one of the walls of the building near the Alcides Figueroa bilingual school in Añasco.  At that time, all members of the organization were attending high school.  So most work days consisted of weekends and hours after we got out of class.  Without letting this limit us, we cleaned the area of ​​trash, creating the shape of the Ceiba, mixing colors and creating strokes.  For me, being my first experience with such a large mural, it was filled with a lot of personal and art learning.  Bryant, as a leader, helped us learn various concepts of visual arts, such as correctly mixing colors.

Within this, it took us several weeks to have a complete result due to changes that had to be made while working, as well as at the same time its inauguration was being planned.  We had everything from unexpected rains and changes in the design of the female face on the tree.  But, although they were a little limiting at first, we managed to finish it just in time for the opening.  This activity took place on March 3, 2017 on the grounds of the mural.  But with the bad weather situation, we found that during that day the rain did not stop, which began to cause us a lot of nerves and fear that the activity could not take place.

Despite the rain situation, we decided to continue with it, hoping that it could happen successfully.  Which it was, we were able to officially inaugurate the mural with great joy and excitement.  It was a night that I definitely carry very close to me, since it was that first experience of being in the process of a mural.  Where all the work really paid off.  Where it was reflected in that celebration that I was able to enjoy with my friends, teachers, schoolmates and the Ciudad Museo organization.

By Yaritzel M. Reyes Romero

If you ask me, how did we got here? My answer would be with a lot of effort, dedication and love towards art and our island. Even though I have only been in the Organization for 6 months, I can say that those who are part of it do their best to continue its mission and vision, which from the beginning has been to rehabilitate dead or lost places, extol the arts in our community and continue giving love to the land where we were born. I have seen in such a short time how Ciudad Museo continues leaving its mark in every place it goes and although it started as a community work project between two students, today you can see that they have gone much further.

In the blink of an eye, seven years passed, and its needless to say that the joy I feel is immense. Despite the difficulties, Ciudad Museo continues to grow both as an organization and within each of its members. At the level that we manage to organize an entire event from the “idea” of a celebration to having the coordination, logistics, creation of elements, etc.; and see how on February 5, 2022, it came out with great success.

What for many thought it was going to be something small, ended up being one of the most impressive activities we have done. It was gratifying seeing all those people who have supported the organization from day one and those who have joined over time and notice how they came excited and ready to celebrate with us.

Having the opportunity to see how the activity unfolded from a “backstage” perspective was unique. The way it was design how the guests entered, for me it was perfect. The guests checked in at the entrance of the Workshop and were given a personalized ID, then they passed through the workshop salon until they went out to the patio and came upon an installation of the letters “ART” to have the opportunity to take photos. Everything looked like a red carpet!

See how they enjoyed every moment of the celebration, from sharing our achievements, future projects, the new website, the creation of Lydia Abreu University Scholarship, named after the teacher who helped us and believed in us from day one, Ciudad Museo’s new logo, the announcement of the MeJunje exhibition to the improvisation show that the group from the Puerto Rican League of Theatrical Improvisation, LIPIT, performed.

We even did a sale-booth! The interesting thing about it is that it created more curiosity in our guests. We had merchandise with various arts from our organization, such as stickers, shirts, prints, etc. Giving the opportunity to others to take home a little piece of Ciudad Museo.

I must say that all the hard work of many months was worth it. Not even the rain managed to discourage us. On the contrary, it gave a magical and natural touch, and we as a team collaborated in a way that everything flowed. At the end of the celebration, the things we heard the most were positive, including comments of how successful it was and that they never imagined that the activity would be like this. In other words, the word “proud” stood out the most. From what I can tell that night, was The Night, and it was perfect. We did it!

And you know what was one of the most rewarding things? The next day, family members texted me saying, “Look at El Nuevo Día Newspaper!”. It turned out that Ciudad Museo made it to the front page with two pages of content in the “Flash & Culture” section.

After Celebrating Seven Years of Art the night before and seeing this the next day, there were no more words left to say than: THANK YOU!

Thanks to all those people who in one way or another have provided support so that this Organization continues growing and mostly, to each of the Official Members and Leaders of the team. I know that this is part of the process and that many more things will come. I feel extremely proud to be part of this organization and I know that together we will continue doing beautiful things for Puerto Rico and the Arts.

I invite you all to continue celebrating with us and to follow us through our social media platforms: @ciudadmuseopr.

Ciudad Museo, Seven Years of Art!

Yaritzel M. Reyes Romero

Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with concentrations in Operations Management and Human Resources Management

Minor degree in Visual Arts

Official member since October 2021

Public Relations Leader

It was approximately several [a lot] of days between brushes, ladders, buckets, paint cans and pieces of tape that led us to the great final event known as the Inauguration of the Macromural at Cerro Cabrera in Aguadilla: Amanecer Borincano by a great diversity of artists and organizations, where we were included. All this happened during the last months of the year where hands from all over the island joined together to form what today is known as one of the most exquisite places in the town of Aguadilla.   As the days went by, we ran out of paints, adhesive tapes, brushes, but above all, we ran out of energy. They were some of the longest, hottest, and most intense days we experienced in the entire journey of our organization, however, there was always something to talk about so that we did not lose the desire, interest, or motivation to be there. In fact, there was never a box of fried chicken that did not lighten the mood and keep us energized, even if it was late at night. It was a long journey full of memories, paint marks and people who would walk around and give us words of encouragement.   Some of the murals done there cover marine and coastal themes, for this and many other reasons, this mural is dedicated to all those fishermen in the area. We had the objective of impacting two buildings, however, shortly after we started, they approached us and let us know that we had to paint a third building so that the piece would have a congruence and be even more exquisite than it already would be. At the entrance to the community, you will see a gigantic mural depicting fishermen casting their colorful nets over the houses on the walls of three huge buildings and this is what makes it an open-air art museum.   Amanecer Borincano came to an end approximately four years ago on that afternoon of the hot and full of emotion, Saturday, December 29, 2018. Among laughter, worries, and ‘pachangueo’ we were able to put the final touches to this mural that undoubtedly impacted the lives of many people since the first day we took the luggage [brushes, rolls, ribbons, rulers, etc.] out of the cars. That day we enthusiastically set up our tent and along with it, all our merchandise. As many of you already know, we are a non-profit organization, which means that to stay afloat we needed your help to create more murals near you. We were expecting over 1,000 people that day, so it was our time to shine and make the most of all our work.   Fireworks adorned that cold and at the same time so hot December night, sparkles all over the sky reflected the colors that were captured on those walls. We inaugurated this monumental and amazing piece by cutting a red ribbon, in a moment in which every one of the people presents were participants. Hugs, tears, and smiles flooded the Macromural that we finished that night with so much sweat and sacrifice. So, we closed drawers, put on our bags, adjusted our pants, and got on our carts, ready for a new adventure full of brushes, paintbrushes, and paints.

Aidilys “Didi” Matias  Former Member of Ciudad Museo (2018 – 2021). Collaborated with the Public Relations and Quartermasters teams on the organization.  Undergraduate in Bachelor of Kinesiology and Exercise from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus.  Minor degree in Adapted Physical Education.

The morning of the 4th of November 2016 Ciudad Museo set its journey to the city of San Juan to present our idea and compete in the 2016 “ExpoEmprende” brought by the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico. That day, wearing our matching “Ciudad Museo” t-shirts, we took on a new adventure, being proud of what we’ve been accomplishing and with a fresh vision of what we wanted to contribute to our city. The truth is that I had a mixture of feelings: nervousness, excitement and was also a bit sleepy, I’m not going to lie. In the end, having to wake up earlier than normal, and having to fight my blanket to let me go, bore its rewards. That day we shared with the rest of the island the project and vision I truly believed on and still do. Together we gave our best presentations and won two first places that brought pride to our team and community.  What is “ExpoEmprende PR”? It is an initiative brought by the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico that invites students from all over the island to compete and exhibit their micro-businesses or organizations in order to provide support to develop them. Ciudad Museo was competing in the categories “Business Ideas” and “Microenterprise Exhibition”. For my part, together with my colleagues Gabriela Ríos and Heiliz Arroyo, I was competing in the category of “Microenterprise Exhibition” in which we set up our exhibition table and explained our project, vision, its importance and what we had achieved through art in our town of Añasco. It was a unique experience, not only for our group, but also for me, because arriving there and finding what looked like a sea of students, visitors, reporters and judges was a little overwhelming. Just like my mom says, sometimes you just have to “dive right in and move forward” and that’s what I did there with my colleagues. Even without having much experience, we rose up and accepted the challenge, doing our best work and sharing with others our colorful dream of bringing art to our streets.  “ExpoEmprende PR” opened doors for Ciudad Museo that helped make it the organization it is today. It has definitely grown a lot since that November of 2016, just as each of our teammates did too. We learned once again to fight for our dreams, to execute in a competitive environment, to work in unity and we felt the joy of seeing how others also believed in what we were doing. That continued to drive us to do what today Ciudad Museo has been able to share with other cities on the island, because in the end, “Ciudad Museo is all of us”.

February 26, 2016: It’s crazy to think that this day happened 7 years ago. I still remember how nervous and excited I was about the inauguration of Bi Nostra Kultuur. At that time, she was still a high school student, who loved anything she had to do with art. However, you don’t know how proud I am to have been a part of such an incredible artistic project today.

I remember arriving just before the activity started, the traffic to get there was insane, let alone finding a parking spot. The streets were blocked and the place was surrounded by security guards to make sure everything was safe for the public. The mural was illuminated by these big lights in their full splendor, demonstrating the hard work each youth on the team put into when the organization was a small community project. For the first time everything felt real; I finally recorded what we had done: As high school students, we had finished an entire mural representing our culture, our initiative to beautify our town of Añasco, and put our multidisciplinary skills to use. I will always be grateful to all the adults who supported and believed in us, because without them this initiative would not have been possible.

As I walked through the different tables where the artists had their crafts for sale, excitement and happiness ran through my veins at seeing so much movement of people. This event was not only for us students and muralists, but also for the whole community to enjoy it and different artists and artisans to have the opportunity to promote their work and show how far art can take us. Time passed very quickly, as we enjoyed the activity together with friends and family, and before we knew it, the ceremony was already beginning. To be honest, I don’t remember all the formalities or the protocol act; I only know that all those who had participated and helped in the creation of the mural were called to the stage before the public. The stage was surrounded by a lot of people, everyone was looking at us, taking a lot of photos from left to right. If I were to describe our faces at that moment, it could only be with one word: PRIDE.

As a ribbon was cut to officially unveil the mural, we were all handed markers to sign as evidence of our arduous picturesque journey. I have always loved to draw and do a lot of crafting for fun; but I had never signed any of my work before in my life. This was the first time my name had been on a piece of art, and I’m pretty sure everyone who wrote their names that night felt like they completed some kind of achievement in their respective lives.

For many it became the first signature of many works to come, while for others it marked a moment in their lives in which they were part of something great, something that would remain in the minds of many Puerto Ricans from Añasco for the rest of their lives. lives. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate and help Ciudad Museo in its first murals, although I admit that it was never an easy process. We always have fun in the process and enjoy every second of it.

About Angélica Barreto Pérez

Former Member of Ciudad Museo, 2017
Bachelor of Science in Digital Animation, Atlantic University College, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Master in 3D Character Animation, University Center for Technology and Digital Art, Madrid, Spain

This magnificent mural presents various distinctive images and scenes from Del Rio’s life and career.

Located on Carr. 402 KM 2.0 right next to the Añasco Hospital. – Metro PR

 https://maps.app.goo.gl/8xr6bgm73Z1t9c7s5?g_st=iw

https://maps.app.goo.gl/sZvnCWuR1QPaRKAPA

Located on Carr. #2 KM 149.5 Bo. Sabanetas in Mayagüez, P.R.

 https://goo.gl/maps/bVgq75hWnPyK5oVC9

  https://goo.gl/maps/6M1fjGNnfk6EX1pQ7