La Rumba Supermarket

Thomas Cole presents in JAMA the artwork of the Cuban American painter Emilio Sánchez (1921-1999) who is known for his sharply defined patterns of light and shadow on the houses, storefronts, and skyscrapers. Untitled, Bronx Storefront, “La Rumba Supermarket” is a painting of a New York grocery store with Cuban characteristics that is exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. One can find on many street corners in the city of New York, bodegas with colorful awnings and window ads that sell convenience items to regular customers from local neighborhoods. The grocery in Sánchez’ painting is larger than most bodegas—large enough to host a party in the late afternoon. Seen dimly in the doorway of the grocery is a crowd of people standing close together, possibly dancing. The name of the store, La Rumba, refers to a style of music and dance that originated in Cuba in the 19th century. The most popular rumba dance, the guaguancó, is a flirtation: the woman’s role is to wave her skirt in time with the music to entice her man, but when he moves in closer she dances away.

Do-Si-Do

Dan Christensen a painter whose paintings were known for their festivity and bright colors was born in Nebraska.  He completed his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1964 and moved to New York shortly thereafter.

Although his brilliant spray-painted bands were well received; he strived to find new ways to express his fascination with color.   Thus his paintings of rectangular blocks came to be known as his “plaid” series. The plaid series evolved into another technique in which he layered different colors thus he created a sense of depth, a technique he called “slab” paintings.   In the 1990s, his work evolved to the “circle” paintings of radiant rounded forms.

An example of the glowing disks that characterized his circle technique is “Do-Si-Do”, in which a series of concentric circles was depicted and shows his long obsession with color.  In this painting Christensen was recalling childhood memories of hot summer days dominated by a relentless sun in the sky. An alternate interpretation of the work involves consideration of the “Do-Si-Do” dance maneuver in which participants move around one another or as the planets rotate around the sun in our solar system occasionally exhibiting paradoxical travels like they are intoxicated from the overpowering brilliance of Ηλιος the Sun-God.

   

Dan Christensen (1942-2007), Do-Si-Do, 1991, American. Acrylic on canvas. 177.8 × 177.8 cm. Courtesy of the Wichita Art Museum (https://www.wichitaartmuseum.org/), Wichita, Kansas.

Excerpt from the article by Jeanette M. Smith, MD JAMA. 2015;313(11):1084-1085