One Chicago artist whose heart still breaks for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico is giving back to his homeland through the use of his artworks.
Thousands of homes were left in shambles in 2017 as Hurricanes Irma and then Maria swept the island.
Carlos Rolon said he is going back to his roots and is on a mission to make lives better for those back home.
With every movement of his pencil, Rolon provides shelter for a person in need in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
Rolon’s mother and father are from Puerto Rico. He visited their homeland, following Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017.
“It was like a war-torn country,” he said. “We just remembered one of my wife’s friends telling us there’s a lot of, there’s a housing crisis, was reaching a pinnacle.”
And with that, the idea of turning tarps into art was born. Rolon completed works over a four-year period using tarps that once covered roofs as the base for his artistic visions. One of those works included a 13-foot by 20-foot tarp featuring a scene of flowers that took several weeks to finish.
This 13-foot by 20-foot tarp featuring a scene of flowers took artist Carlos Rolon several weeks to finish.
“It’s really important that we know and acknowledge that every thread, every act that we produce on these tarps, goes back to Puerto Rico, in some form or fashion,” Rolon said.
He carries out his craft as a resident artist at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in the Hermosa neighborhood. Rolon, who studied at Columbia College School of Art, has had his work exhibited at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.
“The average price that the tarps sell for are between $40-60,000,” he said.
In the past year, he has sold at least four tarp works with 10% to 15% of the proceeds, going to Protechos — a Puerto Rican-based nonprofit that trains residents in carpentry and rebuilds damaged roofs in underserved communities throughout the island. The average cost for roof rebuilding materials is about $8,000.
Since 2017, Protechos has rebuilt 220 roofs. Through Rolon, the executive director of the organization said at least 10 roofs have been rebuilt, but says Puerto Rico requires so much more, with at least 10,000 families still in need, primarily in remote areas.
“I don’t think we quite realize how difficult it is for people who were born and raised on the island, and what their day-to-day and how difficult it is for them,” Rolon said. “The electricity goes out, once or twice a week. Running water could go out several times a week, and this is without natural disasters happening. They’re U.S. citizens … and they’re living in these conditions.”
Rolon is using his passion for artistic expression to create change in the lives of people in Puerto Rico. His next exhibition is taking place at the renowned Art Basel Miami Beach in December.