By painting important figures in the nation’s history, Tomás Povedano helped an entire generation of schoolchildren understand their place in the world. When many of these paintings were adapted as plates for printing money, the artist helped establish the colón as contemporary currency.
This theme of migration informs the new show “Con El Alma Aferrada” (“With the Soul Clinging”), performed this weekend by flamenco troupe Al Ándalus. Forty-eight dancers use this far-flung art form to tell the story of migrating peoples.
The Ocampo family didn’t invent retablos, but they have become pioneers of the form, and they own and operate their own factory on the edge of San José.
If you’re going to dedicate a year to a single exhibit, it better be good. The Central Bank Museums have taken a considerable risk with their latest exposition, “Casi Invisibles” (“Almost Invisible”), partly because of its academic style, and partly because the show runs until September 2015. That’s a long time to dedicate one of the most hallowed art spaces in San José, not to mention one of the biggest magnets for foreign tourists.
For the past couple of years, the art gallery TEOR/éTica has painted and repainted its façade with large, eye-catching murals. “A Chronicle of Interventions” is by far the most provocative so far: The “mural” is a printed list of U.S. incursions in Latin America.
To browse this temporary exhibit at the National Museum is to journey through decades. Agencia EFE is a Spanish media company and the fourth-largest wire service in the world. The YouTube generation can’t usurp the power of still pictures, because a good photograph hits you like a hammer.
