A Brief History of the Neo-Latino Movement: By Dr. Jose Rodeiro

 Through the sponsorship of Newark's Mayor the Hon. Sharpe James and his
Deputy-Mayor, the Hon. Jeannette Ramos, in October 2003, an initial circle of
"Neo-Latino" artists first surfaced, occurring four months before Raul Villarreal
named the movement "Neo-Latino."

 At that point in time, they were just a group
of Hispanic artists, colleagues, and friends exhibiting artworks together at
the October NJPAC "Hispanic Heritage Exhibition."  This NJPAC show was
officially organized for the City of Newark by the group's current leader Olga Cruz,
the Puerto-Rican-American Neo-expressionist printmaker.   Collaborating closely
with Jeannette Ramos, Cruz included in the original group: Josephine
Barreiro, Hugo X. Bastidas, Hugo W. Morales, Alvin Quinones, José Rodeiro, Miriam
Santiago, and Sergio Villamizar. 

These artists had academic links to four
northern New Jersey art schools: New Jersey City University, Rutgers, Montclair, and
Kean.  Suddenly a series of unexpected, as well as scheduled shows, featuring
several of the group's members occurred ubiquitously throughout northern New
Jersey in public-galleries in Perth Amboy, Jersey City, Piscataway, and East
Brunswick, as well as shows in New York City. 

One of these shows caught the attention of the Russian-American artist
Nicolai Buglaj, who was a close friend of José Rodeiro and Olga Cruz.  Buglaj
suggested to his friend Judy Wray, the President of the Visual Arts League (VAL)
that Cruz's NJPAC group would be ideal for the November 2003 National Hispanic
Heritage Celebration Exhibition at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ,
which was being organized by Claudia Rivera of SALUD NBLHO (National
Boricua-Latino Health Organization) and Judy Wray.  

As curator for the show, Cruz asked
a member of the group Dr. Jose Rodeiro, the Cuban-American Coordinator of Art
History at NJCU and a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellow in
painting.   As curator, Rodeiro added six additional artists to the eight
members of the NJPAC group, including Geraldo Castro, Leandro Flaherty, Jason
Rivera, Rainiel Guzman, and Olga Mercedes Buatista.   Unfortunately, Guzman and
Bautista were unable to participate in the UMDNJ show, but have been actively
involved in the movement since. 

From November 2003 through January 2004, the movement attained significant
curatorial attention due to their innovative exhibition at the Robert Wood
Johnson Gallery, UMDNJ, Piscataway, NJ, attracting a plethora of future regional
exhibitions and prospects for international shows by 2005.  Ultimately, this
group of Hispanics represents the first significant Latino art movement of the
21st Century, which is generally pursuing four distinct styles: Neo-Informalism,
Neo-Pop, Posthistoricism, and Folkloricism.   The Neo-Latinos are the first
Hispanic art movement of the 21st Century within New York's Metropolitan Area.

Four months after the initial NJPAC show, during an interview on an EBTV's
show entitled "This Week in East Brunswick," which aired on January 15, 2004,
the movement was christened "Neo-Latino" by the Cuban-American painter Raul
Villarreal.  The name had come to him in a reverie the night before the interview.
 An hour before the show's taping; Villarreal explained the cultural
implications of the term "Neo-Latino" to Morales, Rodeiro, and Santiago, who were all
in attendance. 

Within hours Sergio Villamizar developed a logo for the
group's future online presence, brochures, postcards, catalogues.  When asked about
the rapid curatorial success of the NJPAC show with shows scheduled through
2005 in New York City, France, Italy, as well as other venues in Northern New
Jersey, Olga Cruz smiled and mused, "It is all fitting together marvelously!" 
For more information about Northern New Jersey's Neo-Latino Art Movement
contact Olga Cruz at << ORITSABOY@aol.com >>.