Abra de las colillas (Homenaje a Angito)

Cigarette Path (Homage to Angito), 2002. 

 

 

Negrón collected cigarette butts found on the street during a month-long period, using them one by one to fill gaps in between the cobblestones of an alley in Old San Juan. The work and its ritual did homage to Angito, the much-loved late bartender at El Corosaleño, the alley’s neighbourhood bar. The cigarette butts received a new life and purpose throughout Bubu's intervention and in turn temporarily brought Angito back to life. What stands out, though, is a beautiful silent protest to both the cycle of life and the cycle of the cigarette. Discarded cigarette butts soon became a preferred artistic material, which the artist collects for his Cigarette Butt Sculptures.

 

 

"All of Bubu's actions seem to be subtly subversive; as they provoke (sometimes demand) a reaction from the government. Organizing one's and everybody's trash (as he did with the cigarette butts) is no treat for public officials who in a fury and in a hurry quickly removed, with a huge vacuum cleaner all the cigarette butts placed in the alley. They would rather live with garbage in disarray than see it cleverly placed around them (as the filth is less evident, less of a burden)."

 

Michy Marxuach