Why I make vejigantes
If you follow my work, there is a high chance that you have encountered one or two of the masked folks called vejigantes. There is also a chance that vejigantes are the reason you’re following me. For those of you who do not know what a vejigante is, I recommend reading this article on the topic to get up to speed.
For some time, I’ve revisited the why of my artworks. I am a Caribbean artist, but that doesn’t mean that I have to make art with the Caribbean as a topic. As a matter of fact, that was one of those things that bothered me growing up. I never cared for artists who used their nationality, culture or society as the subject of their craft. Because of this, I started questioning myself. Why did I end up doing the very thing I avoided doing? Well, it turns out that it all depends (as usual) on the type of artist you (in this case I) are.
Framed artworks of vejigantes
I’ve always liked vejigantes. Regardless of what I had going on inside my head, I was attracted to the colors, horns and fangs. The diversity and creativity embedded on those masks was outstanding, and I’m still amazed at the creations of today’s mask makers. But to be completely honest, I was attracted to the aeshetic of the vejigantes, and nothing else. I just thought they looked cool, and that was it. Whenever someone came to me to talk about their history or background, I would just nod and smile while ignoring everything that came out of their mouths. Fast-forward more than a decade later, and I find myself making casual illustrations of original characters and creatures with a hint of Caribbean culture. The reason I was doing this is simple. Just as they tell writers to write what they know, I was drawing what I knew. There was an interest in creating something original and unrelated to any real-world culture, but art and stories do not exist in a vacuum. Every human creation is derivative inherently. When I had gaps on the subjects of my work, I filled them with my nation’s history and culture. The beautiful thing about it is that I didn’t do it with a specific reason. I just needed something to overcome that obstacle, and naturally, that something was the knowledge I had passively acquired during my growth.
The more I worked on these fantastic worlds, drawing and writing, the more I felt inclined to learn about my people’s history. I was enamored and I wanted to learn more. With research came the realization that not a lot of people knew about vejigantes. At least not people outside of my homeland. I began experimenting with vejigante illustrations. While I would have loved to make masks out of coconut and paper, I didn’t have the space nor the resources for it. I still don’t. I began drawing them in a tradition manner, but my creativity and impulse got the best of me. Soon enough, I started creating vejigantes with a theme or meaning. I even began writing a novel about a vejigante. Then came the epiphany. It wasn’t romantic or anything like that. One day, I just thought that I would have been more interested in the history and culture of my country if I had seen illustrations like the ones I was making. Had an elder shown me something like that to tell me about vejigantes, I would not have ignored vejigantes in favor of anime or U.S. american characters. I thought that maybe, contemporary designs of vejigantes could have served as a bridge between our traditional elders and young pop-culture enthusiasts like me.
Since the days I came to that realization, I continued my work with vejigantes. My art was more focused, leading to what would turn out to be my Vejigantismo collection. By creating fan art, and transforming popular characters into vejigantes, I intended to bring together generations or communities that love pop culture and Caribbean history. My goal was (and is) for my art to create a bridge that connects people from all walks of life, adding my nation’s cultural touch to the amazing creations of the world. With this new vision of my work, my art had new meaning, and I was even more motivated than before to create these pieces. After a good amount of experimenting and self-doubting, I decided that it was necessary to make a collection out of these artworks, thus the vejigantismo series was created. You can see some of the pieces below.
What started as a simple drawing exercise to bring original ideas to life ended up being the catalyst that led me to creating work with meaning. I tend to question the utility of art and its function in contemporary society on a weekly basis, but I believe that visions and intentions as the one that made me create the vejigantismo series serve as a stepping stone in my artistic journey, one that I wish to attribute some meaning and purpose other than just being aesthetically pleasing. Nothing wrong with creating art that is beautiful and nothing else, but I need something more than that. So far, I’m happy that the Transforming Wagon has helped me achieve this with one of my favorite demons, the vejigantes.
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