Huracán Del Sur (Cabalgando junto a mi madre) [Hurricane of the South (Horse riding with my mother)]

Label TextRoche-Rabell is best known for his densely textured Neo-Expressionist paintings that comment on Puerto Rican national and cultural identity. This work is partly inspired by an iconic linocut by Carlos Raquel Rivera, titled Huracán del norte (Hurricane from the North). Rivera was one of the most prominent leaders of the Puerto Rican art world in the 1950s, and his print serves as a searing indictment of the United States’ occupation of the island. Roche-Rabell's picture, by contrast, considers movement in the opposite direction, exploring his experience of migrating from the island to the mainland United States to attend art school in Chicago. The painting includes a self-portrait, the black figure at the top of the composition, desperately hanging on to a female figure who sits astride a horse and emits a primal scream of ferns and foliage.

The artist created this large, gestural, explosive work by brushing, rubbing, and scraping thick layers of paint onto the canvas. While the energetic and active process of creating the painting--and its resulting physicality--is significant, the artist's subject matter fusing Christian iconography and Carribean/African-based spirituality is equally important. In this piece, Roche-Rabell depicts a mother figure riding a black horse in full gallop. The artist himself hangs onto her back with his face turned toward the viewer, staring intently. The female figure seems to be screaming with flowers and plant material flowing from her mouth as if speaking in a new language.

Source: DMAC News, Jan Feb Mar Apr 2022

Exhibition HistoryArnaldo Roche Rabell, Museum of Modern Art, DF, México, February 23 - May 28, 1995

Arnaldo Roche Rabell: The Uncommon wealth, Anderson Gallery of ARt, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Richmond, Virginia, January 17-March 2, 1997

Museum of the American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, March 8 - April 20, 1997

Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, September 12-November 9, 1997

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, December 5, 1997 = January 25, 1998

DimensionsOverall: 84 × 120 in. (213.4 × 304.8 cm)

Accession Number 2021.22

Classificationspainting

SignedArnaldo Roche-Rabell (l,r paint)

Inscriptions1991 (l,r paint)

ProvenanceArtist. Humberto and Rosalia Ugobono, Puerto Rico. (Walter Otero Contemporary Art, San Juan); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 2021]

Images (1)

Audio (1)

Audio Transcript

DSM Speaks Audio Tour with Aminah Nalani, Community Member

Run Time: 1.1 minutes
Recorded by Aminah Nalani, CultureALL Community Ambassador / 2023

I find myself in the eye of the hurricane. Consumed by chaos yet, I am still. For I have no control over what is not me, perspective is in my hands. Beings once full of life begin to fade as I exude my energy elsewhere. Manipulation of the mind is equivalent to a natural disaster. Extracting disease to restore order, deconstruct to rebuild. I left to scout for diamonds in the rough. Mining in my mind to find pieces of the old beauty. To make new beauty breathtaking requires breath taking. Extracting life from what once exhaled. I can release myself from the shackles of the past and of the chaos, if I just accept and let go, and with not only my eyes but with the whirl of where the wind takes me, will I find new grounds to plant my feet and my seeds. Life will breathe new leaves to give you fresh air, allow the storm to uproot you.

DES MOINES SPEAKS

DSM Speaks are short audio reflections on artwork in our permanent collection, written and voiced by diverse members of our community. Contributors to this program were selected in partnership with CultureALL and the Des Moines Art Center. We hope by elevating these diverse ways of seeing we can encourage all visitors to connect more deeply and to see themselves and their identities within our walls.