Episode 13: The Art History Professor... The Writer: Alejandro Anreus: (published Tuesday night May 18th, 2021!)
Alejandro's Publications. His Art.
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Professor Alejandro Anreus is an art historian known for his expertise and research in modern and contemporary art of Latin America and the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean, Latinx Art in the US (Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic), African American Art (1920s-1960s), American Art and Politics of the 1930s, Exile Culture of Latin America, and Liberation Theology. He is also known by his students at William Paterson University as one who is completely down to earth and authentic and teaches about life through Art and... lessons from his grandmother. Alejandro is one who considers the full context of the art he shares with his readers and his students. He reminds, "Art is a wonderfully resistant element that will always be there. It is the witness of life." In this recording Alejandro shares what he consistently includes in his classroom and his writing: the social and historical context, but also the spirituality of the artists and the human experiences surrounding what has been created. He reminds us to not forget the "poetry of life with all of its beauty and its brutality." With that lens, he challenges the historical tendency to focus on the oppressive powers that rule societies since eventually they will just be seen as a side note to describing the great art, writing, and music of the time. When we focus on the ideal, the nostalgia, the extremes we often miss the nuances of real life and the full context of what makes life open our eyes. This amazing conversation calls for breaking bread, justice, fulfillment and challenging each other in a sincere way rather than just silencing people. He encourages living our entire lives as a sacrament; an outward sign of an inward grace.
Notes on this episode:
The story of the Xmas tree drawing was told to Alejandro by Chicano scholar Tomas Ybarra Frausto – it happened to a major Chicano artist who told him the story...possibly the late Ruben Trejo, a sculptor.
The poet commenting about Castro was the Cuban Catholic poet Gaston Baquero, who died in exile in Madrid. He said something like “Castro will be remembered merely as the dictator of Cuba during the deaths of the painter Amelia Pelaez (d. 1968) and the poet Jose Lezama Lima (d. 1976).
The black man who challenged and converted a leader of the KKK through friendship was the musician Daryl Davis.
