Artistic Biography:

Ever since I was five years old, I remember having the inclination and the vision of creative interests. At that very young age I was shaping a piece of wood into a spin-top "trompo" and cut my left hand with a "machete", in the spot where the left index finger joins the upper hand. After the age of seven I remember observing the starry night sky since there was no electricity in my town in the Dominican Republic, so I felt like I was able to reach the stars or the moonlite panorama that surrounded my house. I also remember going to church at that age and questioning the purpose of the church itself and the feeling of not belonging. I mean, so many poor of the poorest people packed the church and the very few that did have something always sat in the first bench near the altar.

Also the priest always looked well fed, well dressed and even had a car in the church grounds. I felt like there was a kind of hypocrisy in the church, especially with all the horrors being committed by the government and as I remember, they did not even criticized it or was said anything about what the people could do to help themselves, just pray and have faith. And to me the church did not commented on any issues affecting the population; so it was hard for me to find any kind of guidance from the church because they should have been at least questioning what the government was doing. If the country was run by government in a tyranny and discriminatory way, I felt the church should use the power it had to put some pressure so that the population cans at the very least have a voice, unfortunately all was just a young boys wishfully thinking.

I remember that everybody was scared about the government of dictator Trujillo and their black and white Volky's the police used at the time, also there were always stories of horror and people being executed. About a mile from my house, there was a river called Rio Verde (Green River) and near the bridge of the main road there was a big tree. I do not remember what kind of tree it was, but in that tree anybody that was against the government or did not agree with the government were hung; I do remember going down to the river, just to see the tree for myself and tried to imagined all those people that ended their life up on it without any dignity.
At the age of twelve I started doing handmade craft with something called "rabo de zorra".  It is a wild skinny stick that grows to about six feet and has like a fox tail at the end. Along with my neighbor Mario Guzman, we started doing hats and curtains until we perfected the wood mold in which to do the hats. We were able to sell some and I did some door curtains for my mother's house.

In my late teens and twenties I concentrated in writing. Did about twenty poems and also did a story of fiction which I have completed about 170 pages. I also have done some stories, short essays about humanity and its origins. I have done an essay about the idea of a Latin America United because is a very important subject and one that most be voiced so that a union can take place for the benefit of all before our natural resources completely disappear to other hands.
From the late twenties up until the present I have dedicated my energy to develop and create artistic impressions. So far I have accumulated about 120 paintings, mostly oil on linen. Based on the DaVinci teachings it takes about twenty years of practice and observation for the development of an Artistic mind. So considering such dedication, I still have a few more years of learning. My favorite subject is Mother Teresa of Calcutta based on her lifelong dedication to reach out with huge passion and help the very souls nobody wanted.  Her image is seared into my soul as a God-like figure and I have been fortunate to have met or grew up around people of such caliber. I started doing a portrait of Mother Teresa in 2003 and up this year I have done six. My intention is that as long as I live or able to paint, I will do one portrait of her each and every year that I'm alive as my legacy. But more important, to Mother Teresa legacy of helping and reaching out to those in dare need. But today as we move forward in this young millennium, we wish to have a few more Mother Teresa in our turbulent planet.

I also enjoy iconic figures such as Pope John Paul 11, Bill Clinton, Princes Diana, Hitler, El Che Guevara and Albert Einstein.  In 2002 I did an art project called "Rio Seco", "Dried River Bed" in which I put together natural resources, such as sand, coffee, salt, actual river stones and dried shrimps in a linen canvas. I wanted to depict a factual historical event. The "Rio Verde" I mentioned before where people were hung, was a fluent river, people depended on it for their livelihood for thousands of years.  Today because we took the sand out for construction without even considering the consequences this river is almost dried. And it is a story repeated all around the globe; we seem to have made a sport out of wars and destroying everything we can get our hand on and not think for a second about the right or wrong of the future generations to enjoy, like us, their world in their own time. All I can think of is how negligent and cynical my generation has turned.  In one single generation we can destroy what took nature millions of years to create and offer to us as a gift without imposing or anything asking anything in return.

As an artists and humanitarian I feel deeply about all the wars, housing, hunger and few other issues that have plagued humanity for thousands of years. And to think of it as a practical benefit for all, just by eliminating war along will eliminate most of our planet perils, borders, hunger and most of the illness that has plagued our humanity for years. I would like to think that before we destroy our planet, humanity will discover the path to eliminate such evil machinery. Future generations are depending on us. Also, the issue of our planets environment needs to be addressed in order for our planet to survive as we know it today. Our Sun is responsible for life on this planet for millions of years and yet modern technology has not even done an earnest try to use its resources. All that resources is being wasted, literally every day and the industrial, financial and technology revolution have done nothing to unite or better ourselves, but we continued using our non renewable resources and the simple fact that we must face up the damages we have done in the last two hundred years. The generations that have yet to be born are already in pain. In my art as limited as it may be, is a true rendering of a window of my soul and my will to allow dreams to become part of the essence of my life. And a lifelong wish is that we humans allow ourselves to live peaceful, fruitful and caring life so that the future of this Earth is secure of harm from us humans; as for the past, my dead bed will be the ocean of tears shed by the victims of an unjustly society. I pray tee with all humility.

Iggy Molina