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On May 3,2013 Iván Ramón, Altos de Chavon School of Art and Design graduate 2011,will have his first exhibition in the U.S. at the RIO Gallery in Riverside NY. In celebration, we bring you this article prepared by Stephen Kaplan, Rector of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design.
Iván Ramón: The Son of a Beekeeper
Iván Ramón is from the rural southwestern Dominican town of San Juan de la Maguana, quite near the border with Haiti. His two years in Altos de Chavón’s School of Design were a revelation to him and to all of us who have been honored to know him. Ramón wears his heart on his sleeve: like all Dominicans who are not very far removed from the farm, he is genuine, authentic, and genteel in campesino ways that seem almost archaic. And he brings that anachronistic, disarming charm to his artwork. All Ramón’s imagery is memorable for the effort he puts into perfecting his canvases, and for how he seeks universal truth. The way he portrays the people, animals, insects, and objects that populate his childhood recollections of his beloved
San Juan de la Maguana is extraordinary.
Iván Ramón’s father is a beekeeper. The metaphor of beekeeping is self-proclaiming goodness, wholesomeness that borders on the poetic. Nothing would grow to nourish us were it not for the fertilization bees provide—and as if that weren’t enough, bees produce honey. That biblically acclaimed elixir is the indisputable paragon of all that is good and sweet, and probably has been since the dawn of man.
So Ramón’s artworks reverberate with a honeyed light, a warmth and loving glow that, mixed with Latin America’s signature magic realism, renders us helpless, at the mercy of his dreams. We also sense the amount of tireless labor he has given to make his works: we feel like the queen of the hive being serviced by a soulful worker bee.
Under Ramón’s brush, San Juan de la Maguana is the Dominican Republic’s answer to Chagall’s Russian-Jewish shtetl, Marquez’s Macondo; it is the home of love and wonder. And so importantly—and fortunately—it’s far enough from the USA and Europe and close enough to Haiti to still celebrate magic, mystery, and sensuality.
Those flying teapots, the cast of fat and grinning everyman characters, those dive-bombing honeybees whose buzz is an almost audible soundtrack to Ramón’s painting, those bees that punctuate the canvas surface—they all remind us of who we are and where we come from, and what, in so many cases, we’ve sadly lost. They remind us, as well, that we must not lose the bees, which crop fumigation and colony collapse disorder have now put at risk of extinction.
But Ramón’s paintings also convey fun, emotion, and a celebration of life. To see this work is to revel in its playful conscience. Yet these homespun works transcend into parables with irresistible authenticity and relevance and, most importantly, the message to value one’s roots. We must thank Iván Ramón for reawakening our senses and sensibilities, and sing a paean to the donors whose gifts to the Scholarship Fund enabled him to attend The Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design.
Article contributed by Stephen Kaplan – Thank you Stephen! Stephen Kaplan is the Rector of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design
About the Altos de Chavón School of Art and DesignA component of The Altos de Chavón Cultural Center Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity, the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design has been graduating students from its two-year associate-degree program, affiliated with New York City’s prestigious Parsons “The New School For Design” since 1983. Three majors are offered: Graphic Design, Fashion Design, and Fine Arts/Illustration. In addition, The School has developed a state-of-the-art Certificate Program in Digital Design. Click here for more articles, photos and info about the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design!