The Doctors Gave Me a Death Sentence. Thirty Years Later, I Drove Away in an RV.
By Rolando Chang Barrero · Between Storms and Sunrises
More than thirty years ago, I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I was not supposed to be here. I have been quietly aware of that fact every single day since — and I have not always known what to do with it.
For most of those years, I did what I knew. I ran a gallery on the Palm Beaches. I built something real, something lasting, a place where art found its way onto walls and into lives. It was a good life. A full one. But there is a particular kind of restlessness that comes with survival — a knowledge that time is not abstract, that the road does not wait, that at some point you have to stop preparing to live and simply go.
So I did. I sold the gallery. I loaded up a 28-foot RV. I brought my dog, Bella. And I drove west.
"Storms force early stops. Sunrises reward patience. The road turned out to be a better teacher than I expected."
What followed was not a bucket list. It was something quieter and stranger and more honest than that. Back roads through small towns. National parks at dawn. Deserts that made me feel very small and very alive at the same time. Campgrounds where I met people whose names I still remember. Coastlines I had no words for until I sat with them long enough to find some.
I moved slowly. Attentively. Without urgency — which, for someone who spent three decades running a business, was its own kind of revolution.
Between Storms and Sunrises is the book that came out of that journey. It is a memoir about America as much as it is about me — about what you see when you leave the interstate and take the back roads, about aging and memory and the long aftermath of survival. About what it means to travel not as escape, but as presence.
Part One — the first in a four-book USA Tour series — is available now on Amazon Kindle. I want to be completely honest with you about what it is: a first draft. The words came before the polish, written close to the road, close to the experience. They are real in a way that revision sometimes smooths away.
This text edition is also, quietly, a way to fund what comes next. The complete book will be illustrated with my own photography — black and white and color images from the journey itself. Anyone who has produced a photography book knows what that costs to do properly. Every copy of this edition sold brings that version closer to existing.
You are not just buying a travel memoir. You are helping give it the images it has always deserved.
I spent thirty years helping other people share their art with the world. This is me, finally, sharing mine — and asking you to come along for the ride.
Read Part One — Between Storms and Sunrises
Available now on Amazon Kindle for $4.50. This is the text-only first draft edition. The complete illustrated book — featuring Rolando's black and white and color photography — is currently in production, funded by sales of this edition.
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Gliding into its second year, Art Boca Raton has found a groove, mixing the high-end blue chip art of Picasso and Chagall with the best of the regional art and artists like Cheryl Maeder and Rolando Chang Barrero. Continue Reading....
US HEROES were painted as a response to the ignorance and insensitivity of the liberal left in The United States of America towards the Cuban population that arrived seeking asylum from the of the most notorious murderers in Cuba.
The 3 paintings of t-shirts are always exhibited upside down and all remarks and chants associated with them are turned into interrogative sentences questioning their value and purpose in a dictatorial regime.
US HEROES Serie Part 1: Che Guevara
"10”
A Group Exhibition
Art Gallery at Eissey Campus
Palm Beach State College-BB building
3160 PGA Boulevard
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410
Opening Reception:
Tuesday, February 14th, 2017 | 5:30-8:00 PM
Exhibition Dates:
February 10-March 17, 2017
An Exhibition Organized By Karla Walter and Jacques de Beaufort
present works representing a variety of media, methods, and visual approaches.
All artists are presently working and contributing to the vital and diverse
South Florida art scene.
Palm Beach Gardens—Rolando Chang Barrero will be exhibiting the first installment of US Heroes: Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raul Castro a series of paintings which concentrates on the three mass murderers of the Cuban revolution. The challenges and questions the slogans that are used to support their assent to hero status in the United States. This series explores the phenomena of idolatry and “hero creation” in the United States by the media and American t-shirt industry. This industry creates human billboards which inadvertently rationalizes human suffering (e.g. the mass murders and executions by Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Raul Castro).
"I refer to all of my individual works as “pages from the journal of my life,” a vast documentary of experiences, thoughts, commentaries, and such. Thus, as pages of any personal journal-- some entries are unfinished drafts for a larger essay, some are very personal notes, and others are reactions to events and situations. When a secret is shared, it ceases to be a secret A thought written will at some point be a thought read. I paint for those that prefer to read painting, I make film for those that prefer to read film, I take photographs for those that prefer to read an image [be it black and white, or color].
My current journal entries are a series of interrogatives presented in three levels.
Level one, questions the political slogans associated with the subject simply by changing the exclamation point to a question mark.
Level two, the title of the series “ U.S. Heroes” purposely challenges the viewer into a conversation about his or her interpretation of patriotism and heroism.
Level three, allows the viewer to embrace or deflect the importance and impact of how we consume and later share our beliefs , credos, stances, and/or lifestyles via tee shirts, bumper stickers, and more recent within 144 allowable characters on twitter.”
-Rolando Chang Barrero
"Patria o Muerte?” [motherland or death?] 40” x 60” (courtesy of Rolando Chang Barrero)
“Uno Dos Tres! Seremos como El Che?” [1,2, 3 we're going to be like Che?] 40” x 60” (courtesy of Rolando Chang Barrero)
Featuring artworks byRolando Chang Barrero, Robert Longo, Nicole Eisenman, Mark Bradford, Kiki Smith, Polly Apfelbaum, William Wegman, John Baldessari, Kay Rosen, Isaac Julien, Lawrence Weiner, Paulina Olowska, David Maljkovic, Mary Heilmann, Lorraine O'Grady, Ida Applebroog, Julie Mehretu, Louise Fishman, Jane Hammond, Kerry James Marshall, LJ Roberts, Kalup Linzy, Nayland Blake, Barry McGee, Marilyn Minter, Ross Bleckner, Paul Pfeiffer, Donald Baechler, Marlene McCarty and 1400 others!!!*
Postcards From the Edge offers a rare opportunity to acquire original, postcard-sized artwork from internationally renowned and emerging artists for only $85 each. Offered on a first-come, first-served basis, over 1500 works are exhibited anonymously, and the identity of the artist is revealed only after the work is purchased. With the playing field leveled, all participants can take home a piece by a famous artist, or one who's just making their debut in the art world. Nonetheless, collectors walk away with something beautiful, a piece of art they love!
DAY TWO:
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 FROM 12-4PM
$85.00 each. DAY TWO SPECIAL: Buy 2, get 1 FREE
FINAL DAY of Postcards from the Edge. If you prefer to look at artwork without crowds or are always looking for a deal, this is the day for you. With over 1500 artworks, there are plenty of wonderful works and happy surprises still available on Sunday. On SUNDAY ONLY - buy 2 and get 1 FREE as our "Thank You!"
SILENT AUCTION
SILENT AUCTION continues through Sunday, January 15, 4pm. Artwork byWill Barnet, Sherry Camhy, Guerrila Girls, Harmony Hammond, Jacob Hashimoto, Geoffrey Hendricks, Scott Hunt, Jayson Keeling, Cary Leibowitz, Glenn Ligon, Lucas Michael, Amy Routman, Mark Saltz, Michael St. John, Christopher Tanner, Steed Taylor, Julie Tolentino, Anthony Viti, and Chuck Webster. Bid online at Paddle8.
Coordinated by
Marilu Guzman of WBMGR Raido and Rod Dusinberre
Featuring:
Alex Bach | Gregory Dirr, Ben Pachter, T.J. Brown | SloFunkPump | Jennell Eve Koffin Varnish | Ian Wehmeyer | John Graves | Jack Tafoya | Baby and The Troll |Epicurean Pleasure Rod Dusinberre | Zack Elliott | Craig McInnis | Arlow Cain
