To Write With Light ; By An Alien : Marco Munoz Jaramillo , Visual Artist

AT HEART :

BORN CATHOLIC / SPANISH / ECUADORIAN

MARCO MUNOZ JARAMILLO was born 11/23/1957 in ECUADOR and emigrated to NYC. in 1961 .
HE lived with his father and mother . MARCO attended CATHOLIC school until the EIGHTH grade .
MARCO consciously chose to attend PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL .THIS was enormously empowering.
MARCO now speaks 4 languages yet HE THINKS IN AMERICAN ENGLISH .
HE was transformed from ECUADORIAN MARCO to LEGAL ALIEN " MARK " when he started
CATHOLIC school . HE was terrified of the NUNS and felt as an OUTSIDER ever since .
MARCO graduated high school in 1977 . HE has attended : NEWARK SCHOOL OF FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ART ; THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ; THE COOPER UNION in NYC. ;
THE ART STUDENTS LEAGUE in NYC. and KEAN COLLEGE in NJ.
MARCO BECAME A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN in 1993....
he perpetually asks :
WHEN IS A CATHOLIC GOOD ?
WHAT MAKES AN AMERICAN AMERICAN ?
HE has since found a semblance of peace through : THE BIBLE .... psalm 51....
MARCO considers himself a painter EXPLORING photography since 1998 .


BY G. SCOTT LAMANNA

IN THE EYE :


MARCO has diversified interests and influences :


IRVING PENN
BRASSAI
HENRI CARTIER BRESSON
MAN RAY
METAPHYSICAL
DADA
SURREALISM
MANNERISM
NATIONALISM
NATURALISM
MAGIC REALISM

ALL ENTAIL :

SOMETHING that points BEYOND commonplace REALITY...
SOMETHING that points beyond the object...
A SORT OF quasi- political cartoon showing a heightened sense of WHAT IS REAL ?
MARCO has chosen a LEICA RD1 as his favorite camera ; and has chosen a 16mm , 28mm , 50mm , 85mm as his favorite lenses .
HE LIKES the heightened edges , emphasized drawing qualities and felt capture in the image .
MARCO likens AU PLEIN AIR painting to REAL LIFE REPORTAGE photography .

WITHIN THE HEAD :
HIS choice of imagery sometimes challenges ontological arguments of NATURALISM .
HIS photography wrestles with both NATURALISM AND ART HISTORY .
MARCO frequently manifests relationships between the UNCANNY ; the SUBLIME and his personal relationship to GOD .
HIS interests bespeak of a marginalized and skewed REALITY .
HIS IMAGERY exhibits a peculiar sense of strangeness and the power to mesmerize....
THIS is the UNCANNY .
THESE IMAGES GRAB YOU , but HOW do they HOLD you ?
THE UNCANNY refers to something familiar yet foreign as to create a COGNITIVE DISSONANCE .
THIS would be an attraction AND repulsion at the same time . THIS leads to a rejection of that object ; ie . A DEATH .
THE SUBLIME whereas allows a quasi- transcendance to feel as if one has achieved a state of grace ; ie . closer to GOD .
WITHIN KANT the notion of BEAUTY has 3 ascending tiers AND their subsequent feelings of enlightenment .
ULTIMATELY ; the feelings of the SUBLIME ennoble one to a higher moral good ; ie . closer to GOD .
THIS would be a feeling of a sort of beauty that emerges FROM BEYOND THE NATURALISTIC TO THAT WHICH TRANSCENDS .
ON the face of it , the image appears to have an UNCANNY quality of strangeness .
YET , sometimes , upon closer reflection we find an appeal to a moral stance that ultimately yields a cathartic elimination of guilt .
THE UNCANNY (strangeness ) > SYMBOLIC DEATH > ETHICAL STANCE > THE SUBLIME ( a higher moral good ) ie . closer to GOD .
FOR FREUD / LACAN ; ONLY a culturally divided subject is capable of the UNCANNY : A fear of castration and repression .
THE UNCANNY and the SUBLIME are similar , related , yet also have subjective and subsequent awarenesses .
THESE IMAGES are of the POPULATED WORLD ( photography documentation is perfect for this ) , YET , ultimately hint at a consideration of THE GRACE OF GOD .

BY G . SCOTT LAMANNA

IN CLOSING ;
The photography of MARCO MUNOZ JARAMILLO has a HAUNTEDNESS ; WHY ?
QUESTION :
WHAT is the GRACE of GOD for YOU , MARCO ?
ANSWER :
WITHIN psalm 51 , I came to realize that OUR original NATURE is to SIN .
I came to realize that I am a SINNER and ACCEPTED this .
THIS released my GUILT AND helped channel MY awareness of GOD .
EVERYTIME I view the world I accept the GRACE of GOD .
I am attracted to images that bespeak of the TRANSCENDANT .
I like to PARTICIPATE in an AWARENESS of GODS WILL .
MARCO MUNOZ JARAMILLO is like a moth attracted to the LIGHT .
WITH his photography , MARCO attracts YOU .

BY G . SCOTT LAMANNA
ABSTRACT ARTIST
LOST IN THOUGHT GALLERY