An introduction to Erich Lugo Padilla’s art
By Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Oscar Hijuelos

While looking over the collage paintings of Erich Padilla in this exhibit, I am reminded of the way we see things when we dream-images of people we love or have loved, surrounded by objects that emotionally define them-it is that method we see at work with Padilla’s homage s to his Latino heritage and to the music which he has always cherished. His paintings bear out his bi-cultural upbringing, for they are tinged both by a modern jazziness and by a reverence for his roots; they are about an American sensibility that never excludes the richness and beauty of Latin life.

Take “Mother’s Sounds,” a homage to Xavier Cugat; it’s colors and forms hearken back to cubism, to the be-bop style of album design of the 50’s, to the quirky advertising logos of that day. And, yet with it’s depiction of a homey salon and black and white snapshot of a family wedding, it also seems to convey, in an understated manner, the romantic life of his –and my own- mother’s youth. Somehow you look at this work and have an idea of what Padilla’s household was like when he was a child Perhaps it is purely invented scene but, in any case, one is struck by how painting’s playful and tender atmosphere is a window into the artist’s heart. Or take his painting of the composer, Chico O’Farrill at work by his cluttered desk: as he creates his music, ”Chico” is pictured from above, as if he is being watched by his muse, that divine being of inspirations. Sprawled out before him are snapshots of many of the prominent musicians with whom O’Farrill has worked during his illustrious career, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker among them. This painting not only captures the dedication of the composer, but also teaches history-offering, in a glimpse, the grand legacy of the Afro-Cuban jazz.

These are but two paintings out of his rich body of work. Whether Padilla is depicting a vibrant “Cachao in Motion” or the artistry of one of our greatest trumpeters, Chocolate Armenteros, in Chocolate’s Blues,” or conveying the frantic staccato rhythms of the famous Tito Puente playing the timbales-in “Tito’s Magic Hands” – each of these works manages to capture both the personality and musical essence of his subjects. Above all Padilla’s paintings tell us that to be Latino is a good and beautiful thing, and that the legacies of Latin culture have much to enrich the diverse community, which we know as “America”.

Oscar Hijuelos
“The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love”