Film Feature

Identidad A Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada documentary by Ana Alvarez-Errecalde. Identidad is the art project and documentary film of two utterly talented and beautiful individuals known as Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada and Ana Alvarez-Errecalde. A kick ass husband and wife team that is about to rock the international art & film world.

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada has been creating urban art for over fifteen years. He was born in Santa Clara, Cuba and grew up in New Jersey. While in college, he became aware of the power of art and its ability to impact the community. He became a founding member of the group Artfux and later continued working with the Artfux splinter group Cicada Corps of Artists. He altered countless billboards and undertook guerrilla performances that called the attention of the media for their audacity. All of these activities were focused in and around the tri state area.

In May 1997, Rodriguez-Gerada was interviewed by Naomi Klein for the Village Voice article "Subvertising" This article was later incorporated in Klein's book "No Logo". The most recent manifestation of his unique direction as an artist is the Identity Series. For the last six years he has been working on this project which came from his need to transcend culture jamming and its limitations. Gigantic charcoal portraits of anonymous people scale the sides of buildings in our cities drawings to question the controls imposed on public space and the role models which are chosen to represent us.

Ana Alvarez-Errecalde was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. She studied Film Production at the C.E.R.C (Centro de Experimentación y Realización Cinemtatográfica) in Buenos Aires and produced films at Third World Newsreel in New York. She now resides in Barcelona, Spain, working as a visual artist, documentary filmmaker and photographer. She has received numerous awards and her documentaries have been screened at the MALBA Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires, Dokumentarfilm Kassel, Germany, The Tank N.Y.C., Museum of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia, BCNvisualsound, Barcelona, Spain, and other international venues. She is currently a resident artist at the Hangar in Barcelona, Spain.

It has been over eight years since I last saw Jorge and Ana. They are now the proud parents of an eight year old baby boy and a three year old baby girl. Spain is where they reside, raise their kids and create their art these days.

They just recently accepted an invitation to serve as board members of the new NYC based artist collective known as Artfluxxx.

Check it, www.artfluxxx.com

1) FMFB: The biggest influence in your artistic endeavors?

A: Herman Lew is an independent film maker that was my film mentor in
New York. He became part of the crew on my first short. Seeing
that someone more experienced and more knowledgeable than me was
committed to my project allowed me to develop self-confidence as an
artist.

J: The beginning of my career with Artfux and Cicada Corps of Artists
has clearly marked my direction as an artist. I aspire to create
visual art that breaks the boundaries between the general public and
the art world by involving both .

2) FMFB: Jorge you are a Cuban American residing in Spain for the last
few years and Ana you are an Argentine Spaniard, how has that
contributed to your "Identity" as an artist.

A: I grew up in Argentina and lived most of my adult life between New
York and Barcelona. Some of my films, photography and photographic
sculpture/installations are based on the people I adore. They are part
of my identity. They are my "homeland".

J: Traveling and experiencing other cultures allows one to be more
open to the many differences in the world. Everywhere that I have gone
has been so enriching. Spain has been especially good to me. I was
able to start the Identity project there because the atmosphere was
very relaxed and the cities of Barcelona and Madrid were open to new
directions in art. We now get the chance to experience many cities
around the world.

3) FMFB: Living or otherwise, is there a creative individual you admire
you will like to collaborate with and why?

A: Tim Burton, Iciar Bollaín, Sebastiao Salgado, Alan Berliner,
BLU… the list can go on and on. I owe everything I know to the people I
worked with. Film school and photography classes are just a small
segment of the educational path. The more interactions I can have with
creative people the more I will grow as an artist.

J: I am really interested in the work Eric Redlinger is doing with VJ
technology. He is perfecting the Mrmr (pronounced murmur) open
protocol for mobile devices. You can control visuals over Wi-Fi from
your iPod Touch or iPhone in multi-user sessions. I have a project in
mind that this would be perfect for. You can check out a video about this at -
http://createdigitalmotion.com/2007/10/29/mrmr-iphone-105-quartz-composer-wireless-vj-nirvana/

4) FMFB: NYC is edgy and Spain has its own old world charm, polar
opposites for lack of a better term, do you miss that edge and cultural
melting pot NYC offers and how does Spain with its own charm make up for
that?

A: Spain's major cities have changed a lot in recent years, and so did
New York City. I think that each place has its pros and cons. The
charm of Spain might come especially from its people. They are
friendly, joyful and they don't like to rush. Even when they complain
they can be funny. It makes life lighter. On the other hand a mixture
of recent immigration adds the edge of any other big city.

J: I have found London, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Sao
Paulo and Buenos Aires to be edgy cultural melting pots. New York City
doesn't have an exclusive, but it is my favorite.

5) FMFB: To date, what has been your most ambitious and challenging project

A: IDENTIDAD/madrid was challenging due to the series of
inconveniences that we encountered. The cold and wet weather damaged
my camera. The hotel where we were staying at had an electrical surge
and I lost everything on my hard drive. I had to be at the drawing
site and I also take care of our kids. We all got bad colds. I was
tempted to give up, but I believe in Jorge´s artwork, I´m his number
one fan and I can´t resist the urge to support him.

J: The Identity project that we did for Madrid/Processos/Redes in the
neighborhood of Chamberi in Madrid was the most challenging for many
reasons. It was two really big portraits on a huge brick wall during
an unseasonably cold winter. Add Rain, snow and mud with the flu and
muscle cramps and we are talking determination. Ana created a really
nice documentary called IDENTIDAD/madrid about that project against
all the odds.

6: FMFB: Your ideal world as far as creating art

A: Like the ideal world of a monk: No economic worries and a good
amount of assistance with mundane chores.

J: There are many art worlds in which to create art. But the one that
is emerging now gives me hope. There is a new group of international
street artists that are bringing back the critical stance in
contemporary art. New hybrids are forming and the world will have to
take notice of what is being said.

7) FMFB: Has parenthood changed your views as an artist and individual?

A: Definitely. Our 8-year-old son taught me to enjoy everything I have
taken for granted. He teaches me patience, humility, faith and
unconditional love. Our little three-year-old daughter brought me
balance, joy, and a daily quota of wonder. They are amazing. I often
translate some of the experiences they manage to get me through into
my artwork.

J: My son is a special child that can't walk or talk. He has taken
away any barriers that I had built up in my mind. Scale and difficulty
mean nothing. As a family we try not to differentiate between home
life and artistic life. The whole family travels for projects or we
don't go. Our little girl met many of people I have drawn and
remembers all their names.

8: FMFB: Collectively you are, fine artist, filmmaker, sculptor,
photographer culture jammer, are there other disciplines in the arts you
are interested in?

A: I would like to experiment with electronic and net art.

J: I think we have enough notches on our belts. If we need to work in
a direction that we are not feeling really comfortable with we can
always ask some really cool person who kicks ass in that direction to
come on board for the project. It is more fun that way, you make solid
friends, you don't waste time and you are learning from someone you
admire.

9) FMFB: How did you meet and who made the first move

A: We met in a gallery in Soho, NYC. Jorge came to talk to me. I liked
him as soon as I saw him, but I didn´t want to date anybody. I was
supposed to be in the States for just 6 months, I ended up staying 7
years. I believe in love at first sight.

J: I saw this amazing creature walk into the gallery and was blown
away. After some banter I asked if she wanted to go for a coffee.
Instead she gave me her phone number and then took off on her bike. It
took me a month of phone calls to get a first date. We were married
six months later in a Buddhist temple in China town. That was eleven
years ago.

10) FMFB: Where will you like to be in 10 years and tells us about up coming
projects

A: In ten years? Living in a self sufficient eco-friendly house, in
love and surrounded by friends and family. Traveling with Jorge and
the kids to different parts of the world. Finishing post production of
one really great and meaningful feature film with a budget.

Projects: Residency at the Hangar, Barcelona, Spain. (production of
two series of photographic installations). Post production of 3 short
documentaries about Jorge's recent interventions in Sao Paulo, Brazil;
Vitoria and Madrid, Spain.

J: In ten years I would like to be building sustainable
infrastructures to help impoverished areas in the third world with the
money I make as an artist in the first world.

Projects: I am working on a monumental sculpture project with the
Autonomous University of Barcelona. I have Identity projects lined up
for the cities of Granada and Logrono in Spain and the city of Oporto
in Portugal. I am in talks with the city of Luxembourg for a larger
project with an accompanying institutional exhibition. I am in the
process of producing photographic prints, creating sculpture and
finishing a series of works on paper for a commercial gallery
exhibition.