Perez, Armando "Rasquachismo" and "Domesticana"

     Rasquachismo as I understand it, comes from being frugal and resourceful, to make good use of what you have around you. It means to be creative and learn how to solve with what objects and things are available to you. After reading the essays written about "Raquachismo and Domesticana", it was easy to identify with Ybarra-Frausto definition of Rasquachismo as being related to the underdog. Being an underdog or identifying as an underdog was something very familiar coming from a family of poor working class Cubans. my brother and came to America with my grandparents on my father's side who experienced the struggles of surviving in Cuba and the daily rationing of food and materials was a reality that left them guarded for life. They saved every penny they could, collected empty plastics, margarine tubs, and vegetable cans. My grandmother would repurpose them as bowls to eat in and the cans for having coffee, which was what they used in Cuba to drink there Cuban coffee like all the Guajiros (poor working class peasants) did. Even after coming to the United States some of those old habits remained with them for quite sometime. 

    When I finally was reunited with my mother at the age of  twelve, I remember her doing the same. As a single women raising three children, she had to be very frugal and resourceful. My mother often used them when preparing meals to be able to store additional portions to avoid making dinner every night after returning home from work after a long day at the factoria (factory)as a costurera (seamstress). She also would often make homemade pudding and deserts and use the tubs and used a large and wide can to cook flan for us. I am very grateful for what I learned growing up from my mother and grandparents, it seemed to rub off on me. I was always resourceful as a kid and like to make things and if I didn't the materials to make something, I would figure what else I could use to accomplish what I had in mind. Today as an artist who's focus on sculpture and painting I still use found materials and repurpose many things within my sculptures and paintings. I have a love in combining questionable materials together to find a balance which enhances each material and there relations. I have often been asked about my process and what it means to me or the narrative within my work. I associate the marriage of materials as a way of problem solving and also relate it most importantly to the human relationships and the conditions we are faced with sometime. It is because of this and my families experience that I have a great admiration for the use of "Rasquachismo and Domesticana" in our everyday life as Latinos. 

    Below are some examples of my artwork. I made this particular sculpture class last spring as an interpretation of Cuban painter Wilfredo Lam's painting the titled "The eternal Presence". The altar is by my mother in law, she puts up every year for the el Dia de Muertos.