Today we’d like to introduce you to Rolando Chang Barrero.
Hi Rolando Chang, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My gosh, I would need about a week and a few full-time stenographers to give you an account of how I started and how I got here today-and that wouldn’t even cover where I want to get in the next ten years. I can say that there has always been amazing people around me and making the best of each and every day.
I guess I started really young by being absolutely fascinated with almost everything. I would love to go to work with my father when I was young he had this huge German letterpress printing press called a Heidelberg Platen Press and numerous offset lithographic printing presses as well, all of which I was taught to use by his assistant Troya. Troya was a very kind Colombian man of small stature that worked with my dad for as long as I could recall, he would always smile and show me his hand with the missing finger every time just before he let me feed one of the old Chandler and Price press we used to make posters in our a basement print shop. His missing finger wasn’t meant to scare me, but to serve as gentle reminder to always be mindful and present in all you do…a lesson I had retained throughout my life.
Fast forward some 50 years after the basement printshop just a block from the Arthur Kill coast in the Elizabethport area, New Jersey. I am now living in West Palm Palm Beach where I owner and curator of The Box Gallery which is one of four galleries I have owned over the years and one of the few brick and mortar spaces that are left in the area. I absolutely love my gallery and having my own space in the back which serves as my art studio.
While the gallery has won countless awards and reviews – I’d be lying if I told you it was as easy getting here. The COVID 19 pandemic all but shuttered a hard-won dream this past year. Were it not for community making donations and three different loans the gallery and my art studio would have been a bittersweet tale of the past. I didn’t realize the impact the gallery had on the community until then, I was touched with the love and support I received from everyone at a time when they too were facing the backlash of the pandemic. The gallery has since re-opened and presented over five notable exhibitions and I have been able to produce new work in my studio which are now in various exhibitions throughout the state and nationally. I am currently working on my next exhibitions at The Box Gallery for 2022-23 season.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There isn’t a single road to success – there are many. Some roads are smoother than others, but the struggle is always real.
Deadlines are critical in the art world and are very much of the cause of my stress.
There are thousands of little details to producing an event and each exhibition is a major event at The Box Gallery.
The pandemic introduced Zoom which has been a mixed blessing as some clients are not visiting exhibitions in person yet, so the work has basically doubled. I need to produce engaging content online to reach out to them, as well as the customary exhibition and panel discussions, art talks, and collarter presentations.
The main issue is my clientele ranges from the very young creative in high school with very high accume for new technologies-which I have had to learn to use, to my older clients and art collectors who are not as comfortable the current social media outlets being used to provide access to the art. So, house calls and special home presentations under very strict conditions by clients have become more routine then ever before.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am an American born artist and businessman. I am a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1990 where I was awarded the Reyerson Fellowship. My recent invitational engagements include The Ringling Museum and The Norton Museum of Art. I was honored to have recently been awarded The Cultural Council of Palm Beach Muse Award for Outstanding Cultural Leadership and named the Best Artist and Best Gallery in Palm Beach by SFGN.
I was born 1962, Coconut Grove, Florida and currently resides in West Palm Beach, Florida. I initiated the rebranding Boynton Beach Arts District, am the co-founder Art Synergy and have been recognized as Cultural Creative” by Art Hive Magazine, ” and Artistic Innovator” by The Florida Weekly, and one of the “Top 10 Visual Artists in Palm Beach County” by New Times, “I have been noted as the Most Intriguing People of S. Florida Arts Scene” by South Florida Gay News, and an environmental “Green Trailblazer” — Sun Sentinel.
Recently has served as an invited artist to present my at some very outstanding galleries and institutions including the Consul General of Mexico and Neiman Marcus. I have also served as facilitator of critical racial and equity programs, worked as professional speaker on the development of art districts and the history of photography. I have had the pleasure being an invited visual arts curator, producer of the first arts and culture bilingual tv talk show which I was also the host. My relationship with press has afford me the opportunity to work as media consultant for various news and entertainment outlets.
My accomplishments this year is what I am most proud of because I had to restructure my life and adapt to new and innovative ways to accomplish my goals and keep my gallery and my career as an artist relevant in spite of the challenges of the COVID19 pandemic.
Here’s the shortlist that has kept me busy in 2021:
Invited guest on Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien
Featured on WPBF (West Palm Beach) Special Report: West Palm Beach artist discusses the importance of equality
Featured on national television and newspapers alongside other notable latinos – Hispanic Heritage Month: A celebration of heritage and culture Invited guest for Discover the Palm Beaches: Out on the Town
Nomination of Raizes Award – Outstanding Latino Artist-Awards not yet presented.
Invited artist – Atelier de SoSi Gallery, City of St. Petersburg FL
Invited artist – Neiman Marcus, City of Boca Raton, FL
Invited artist – Easton Gallery at The Arts Warehouse, City of Delray Beach, FL
Invited artist – 1310 Gallery, City Fort Lauderdale, FL
Curator and development of international environmental exhibition, panel discussion.
City of West Palm Beach Racial and Ethnic Equality Action Summit
Curator of Our Planet Our Future Exhibition at The Miramar Cultural Center
Curator of Blank Slate: Domenic Esposito and national mental health panel discussion.
Curator of traveling exhibition “In time of Protest” ( City of Miami, City of Miramar, City of West Palm Beach)
Center for the Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts at Florida Atlantic University.
Muse Award for Outstanding Cultural Leadership, Cultural Council for the Palm Beaches.
Other ongoing projects that I have are:
ActivistArtistA Bay Gates Mural Project, Curator
Boynton Beach Art District Art Walk
Golden Celebration, Outdoor Festival KeroWACKED, Multimedia Festival
UNLEASHED Art Fair
Art Synergy, ArtWeek, Palm Beach County, Florida
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
My favorite thing to do is research. I read a lot of old thesis papers written by graduate and post-graduate students in curatorial practices and art history. If I’m enthralled with what they wrote, I see where they are at today.
If I think we can work together, I try to establish a relationship with them, invite them to speak at the gallery, or offer them an exhibition.
I’m not very fond of apps and use them only because they have become necessary to engage with some friends and family members, but love podcasts and radio talk shows……I guess pushing 60 may have a little something do with it. LOL!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://theboxgallery.info/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theboxgalleryfl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBoxGalleryFL
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBoxGalleryFL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoqNyBmiTxrA08G6EVoe_-A
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-box-gallery-west-palm-beach
- Other: https://activistartista.com/
Image Credits
Courtesy of The Box Gallery
