FLASHBACK 1980
This is me at 20 in Ybor City, Florida.
At 20, I thought I had it all figured out only to realize that at that moment, I didn’t know anything. Art only represented the human condition and that is best represented by utilizing the human face or figure. At least, that’s what I believed at the time. My encounter with a man I met on the streets was a turning point for my growth which would lead to so many other meaningful forms of art which I never appreciated before meeting "Socrates" as I named him.
MEETING SOCRATES- THE TURNING POINT
It was a warm summer day in 1980, and I was taking pictures in Ybor City, Florida. Today, Ybor is a vibrant destination with National Historic Landmark status. However, at that time it was struggling to survive after suffering the affliction of Urban Renewal which erected an eight lane interstate highway through the center of the community ten years earlier.
About ten o’ clock Tuesday morning, the sidewalks and streets were almost deserted except for some discarded paper cups and crumpled up newspapers. I glanced over at an old man sitting on a concrete planter facing the street, sporting a baseball cap and a maduro cigar dangling from his lips as he watched the occasional car pass.
He agreed to allow me to make his portrait and after I took two shots, he asked, ”Why? Why do you want my picture?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s because you have an interesting face, the cigar and baseball cap, you have--your face is interesting to me.”
“Hmm…Why?” He asked.
“Why what?”
“Why is my face interesting to you? Why would anyone find my face interesting?” He smile because he knew he had me and he was right.
Art to me had always been about faces and the human figure. My father, Frank Rampolla, was a well-known figurative expressionist painter who taught painting, drawing, intaglio, and art history in the local University. From an early age, I was surrounded by artwork by my father and art books with the works of Rembrandt, Ruebens, Carravagio, Goya, Davinci, Dore´ and so many others, all of whom were figurative and figurative expressionist artists. We did have some contemporary art in our home, usually from other art professors at the University, but of all the art books my parents acquired, I don’t recall any books that were of abstract or contemporary art and I studied all of them.
“I really don’t know. I never really thought about it.” I said this almost like a question. I didn’t have an answer for him and much worse, I didn’t have an answer for myself. I never asked his name, nor did I see him again but in my mind I refer to him as Socrates.
Socrates, 1980, Renato Rampolla
At 20, I thought I had it all figured out only to realize that at that moment, I didn’t know anything. Art only represented the human condition and that is best represented by utilizing the human face or figure. At least, that’s what I believed at the time. This encounter was a turning point for my growth which would lead to so many other meaningful forms of art which I never appreciated before that old man asked me, “Why?”.
A few old photos from Ybor City back in 1980.
Ferdinand from Cuba, 1980, Renato Rampolla
Cigar Rollers, Ybor City, 1980,
Renato Rampolla
Urban Renewal, 1980, Renato Rampolla
Dancer Girls of Ybor, 1980, Renato Rampolla
I will talk again soon about film photography and building my own darkroom back in the day. I will even share a story about Bob Hope and how I happened to interview and photograph him.
Until next time...