In 2005, I produced a video piece titled Homage a Brakhage, dedicated to the American experimental filmmaker. I also produced a number of other videos to comprise the series titled Machinations, which was presented alongside a lineup of other contemporary Puerto Rican artists in the now-defunct TagRom space, led by artist Carlos Reyes. The series was shown in its entirety at the opening exhibition of that space in August 2005.
To produce “Homage a Brakhage” I raised a plate of plexiglass on an easel and made a painting with bright colors and rich textures. Then, I took the painting on the plexiglass to the terrace, I raised it towards the sun, and standing behind the painting I caught the sunlight that filtered through the painted sheet with a digital camera, shadowing Brakhage’s experimental process. I took over 200 photos, which I then converted into short video clips, and manipulated using several video editing programs. The process was long and meticulous, just like the process that Brakhage imprinted on me, and embracing what he rejected I was able to create a series of works that sought to prove that he was wrong about the possibilities of video, that in video there was and still is great potential to comment and further develop the language of abstraction.
Apart from being exhibited at TagRom, the piece “Homage a Brakhage” was selected by the organizers of the Puerto Rico Queer Film Festival to be used as part of the promotion of the event in 2010.
As mentioned above, this work was also part of entreFORMAS, an exhibition researched and curated by Abdiel Segarra, a group show of Puerto Rican abstract art opening at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in 2021.
Below is the aforementioned Homage to Brakhage, and a number of other videos included in the collection titled Machinations, made in 2005.
Ralph Vázquez-Concepción 