1965 through paintings
Between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic when through an American Invation after the fall of Dominican dictator Ráfel Leónidas Trujillo. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratically-elected president Juan Bosch ousted the militarily-installed president Donald Reid Cabral from office.
The United States of America fearing a second Cuban comunist state moved to ocupy the country .
The magnitude of this event can not be underestimated, this was the defining moment where it was decided if the Dominican Republic was going to become a Communist country like Cuba, a dictatorship like Haiti or annexed to the USA like Puerto Rico. In the middle of all this warfare, life went on, here are my depictions based of photographs of these events
This collection was born out of appreciation and fascination by this period, I was drawn to the every day life and interpreting photographs in the form of color paintings.
William Windmill
The Wedding(2021)
The Wedding
“The hard truth is there was no money to be spent in tuxedos”"
Life went on when the revolution started, weddings were common, yet this setting was particulary compelling.
When I found this picture in the archives of Milvio Perez, I knew I had to paint this. It finds its place in the middle of absurd and tragically honest.
I’d like to think that Milvio was having fun with arrangement, notice the tart on top of the jeep as if it was covered just seconds ago. but the reality is that although a wedding dress might be something that could be borrowed or plainly sewed, The hard truththere was no money to be spared during the revolution in fancy celebrations or tuxedos.
The original photographs are set in the colonial zone in Santo Domingo.
The Power of Women
“Women were a leading force in the revolution"
Protests and confrontations between the military and civil movemets were common, in this picture we see a group of women pushing through the armed military
The bravery of the women is astonishing, they’re unarmed but someohow I was more scared of them thatn the armed guards.
This photograph also belongs to the Milvio Perez Archive
The original photograph
The Power of Women (2021)
“Montes Arache and the Frog men were the elite attack team of the revolution"
Manuel Ramón Montes Arache was the head of the Frog Men. Trained by Illio Capocci the only way to describe this team was as an ultimate task force responsible for defeating the army with less men, resources and allies.
This photograph also belongs to the Milvio Perez Archive
The original photograph
Los Hombres Rana
Los Hombres Rana (2021)
There is more than meets the eye with this painting, used some machine leraning to color this photograph before I started to paint, I use extensive reference as you can see by this comparison in my work and I’m extremelly happy to see what happense when we explore these new tools.
Here is the colorized version of this photograph for reference, it was my first time using this technique.
Colorized photography using Artificial Intelligence
All in the same Side
“The revolution, military police and civilians"
The sides werent as clear as one might expect from a civil war, first there was the goverment that had overthrown Juan Bosch, then the american intervention
When all was set and done the real force that got the country together was the fight for independence, things arent as black and white, but in this picture we can see civilians , the military police or “Cascos Blancos” and some revolutionaries all in the ozama fortress
This photograph also belongs to the Milvio Perez Archive
The original photograph in fornt of the fortess
All in the same side (2021)