Carl Judson - Guerrilla Painter Notebook

Lunch Hour in Bolivia

In 1993 and 1994 I was doing volunteer work in Cochabamba, Bolivia. When I wasn’t out in the countryside, I worked in an office in the main business district. I was living with a family and could go
home for the traditional lunch and siesta, but it was a long way on crowded buses, so I frequently opted to stay downtown and
paint.

My principal criterion in selecting a subject was first finding a comfortable place to sit in the shade – doorsteps, public benches, against a tree on the ground, etc. I carried a small Aguyo (a native pack blanket) in my backpack to sit on. I’d settle down, set up my pochade box on my lap and then look for something to paint. The
result was a bunch of these ”lunch-hour” paintings.

On the facing page, is one of my favorite lunch-hour paintings. In the foreground is a small traffic island at the confluence of several streets. Sitting in the shade, reading with her back to the street, is a time clock keeper for one of the numerous private bus lines that ply the streets of Cochabamba, waiting to punch the log of a bus every half hour or so. In the background is a new office building under construction. The scene is somewhat abstract and surreal - a combination I enjoy.

Sleeping It Off
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Carl Judson © 1994
Oil on linen, 7½" x 10".

Painted from the same place on a different day, (below left) the improbable posture of the “dead drunk” figure, slumped uncomprehendingly in the midday sun, is an unfortunately common sight. A favorite place of mine to paint was Plaza Cobeja, a few blocks from the office. But I never knew exactly where I would find an unoccupied bench in the shade
or space under a tree, so finding subject matter once I’d found a place to sit could be problematic. My solution was to paint things a long way away - becoming a kind
of plein air “telephoto lens.” I frequently find this a useful approach to simplifying subject matter. The scene (below) was
about a block away down a street that angled toward the plaza. The woman leaning in the doorway drew me into this simple composition.

Lunch Hour
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Carl Judson © 1994
Oil on linen, 7½" x 10".

Another spot I painted from frequently was a no-man’s land near the river with a grove of eucalyptus trees. One end of this
strip of land was used as a parking place by dump truck drivers during lunch hour (above right). The deep blue of the mountain ridge to the north of the city provided a vivid color contrast to the rust-orange of
the dump trucks.

Dump Truck Lunch Break
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Carl Judson © 1994
Oil on linen, 7½" x 10".

Cochabamba has a number of playgrounds with basketball courts. Unfortunately, basketball can’t be easily played with a makeshift ball like soccer can. In such a poor country few kids can afford to own a basketball. I painted these three
kids (below) who hung around all the time I was painting and as I finished, a fourth boy showed up with a ball.

Probably only my imagination, but this lone patron (above right) sitting outside at the restaurant across the street evoked the feeling of the dark side of Cochabamba with its shadowy cocaine trade and money
laundering.

Cochabamba is full of these abstract compositions (below). Lunch hour is a quiet and peaceful time to appreciate these settings free of the usual hustle and bustle
of Latin street life.

I have had several one-man shows of my work at the municipal salon in Cochabamba. The Bolivian people appreciate graphic images with a level of sophistication far beyond that which is common in our culture. This is reflected in the astonishing degree of public support given to the arts by Cochabamba’s otherwise impoverished civic institutions.