The painter Renzo Ortega had been thinking a lot about creating a plan for what to do with all the artwork he had accumulated over his 25-year artist career. A storage room in his native country of Peru and one in North Carolina where he lived were already packed with hundreds and hundreds of paintings. Each embraced different artistic styles, from folk art to expressionism and pre-Hispanic patterns, including vivid landscapes and pieces that captured the realities and contributions of Latin immigrants like himself to US life.
Life is short and unexpected, he reflected on the evening of his 50th birthday, death being the only truth for an artist as they age, and “nothing guarantees that what an artist produces will generate monetary success or cultural recognition,” he said. Something was certain: “If a gallery hasn’t represented me at 50, it never will.”
