Rafael Ferrer

Another museum show that I really enjoyed is the large retrospective of the art of Rafael Ferrer that is on now at El Museo Del Barro until the end of August. This tropical hot house of an exhibition is perfect for New York City’s hot tropical July weather. The show is loaded with Ferrer's lush colorful paintings along with some of his wonderful sculptures. One whole wall is covered with his masks painted and drawn on. brown paper bags, and the wall opposite it is full of small slate blackboards that he has drawn and painted on, they have a nice across the gallery conversation. I should note that at one time we were pretty close friends, and I had several nice pieces of his, that I sold or gave away when I had to move. Rafael was also a wonderful supporter of my art and I don't know what became of the pieces of mine that I gave him because we lost touch over the years. . He gained some prominence early on for his installations and "conceptual" pieces that would only last for a short time, since he would use materials like ice in his work. I met him at the opening of the Museum Of Modern Art’s Information show in 1970 in which we both had works, and we quickly bonded. Passionate and opinioned he was the half brother of the late actor Jose Ferrer and I would sometimes ask him questions about his brother and his sister in law the great Rosemary Clooney. Soon after he started to do his autobiographical sculptures and paintings and this is the work that I like best. He's clearly an artist who loves making his art, and I am a fellow artist who clearly loves looking at it. The museum is quite nice but small, and very little room is available to show their wonderful permanent collection, but there is a nice sampling of it installed in a small gallery. Look also for the work of some school children that is hanging in a hallway off the lobby, this kind of art is always inspiring to me.