The Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus (Centre for Environmental Education of Salamiou), welcomes you to an art exhibition by Susan Vargas. The show will be opened by Paphos District Officer Dr Andreas Christodoulides on Sunday 10th of April at 16:00.
Duration: 10th April - 8th May 2011.
Opening hours daily: 9.00 - 12.00 and 15.00 – 18.00, Sunday: 11.00 – 13.00 and 15.00 - 18.00
About the artist
Susan Vargas was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1963. She currently lives and works in Tala, Pafos. In 1990 she started the “Praxis & Installations” with Rinos Stefani. She has represented Cyprus in various international exhibitions, in Thessaloniki, Strasbourg among others. She has had 7 solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows (Cyprus, Greece, Colombia, USA etc.)
The American poet Caroline Frances about S. Vargas work:
"Sewing pieces of cloth in a decorative way is a craft practiced by many cultures and turned into an art by contemporary artists like Susan Vargas.
At the end of the 16th century the Spanish conquistadores came to Colombia and saw the indigenous people almost naked. The Spaniards imposed their culture and religion on them and forced them to cover their bodies which had previously been painted with pre-Columbian motifs. This is when the “molas”appeared. They were pieces of cloth sewn together in very schematic representations of pre-Columbian visual culture and used to cover their bodies.
Susan Vargas’ appliqués even though they have to do with the Colombian tradition are very contemporary and universal. Her themes as well as her technique are of her own and remind us of her style in painting. The main symbol is the Bull. The bull is not only an indication of her background (her native country, bullfights, etc.) it also brings to light the interaction between the Latin American and the Mediterranean cultures. The titles such as “The Bull of Bogotá”, “Minoan ritual”, “The Bull of Cyprus”, are some examples of this.
In her appliqués she divides the surface and organises a distribution of the colour fields in such a way - often using diagonal lines - achieving in this way a dynamic composition.
In her work there is a symbolic dimension and she uses a multileveled correlation between history and contemporary reality. Some of these paintings are “The Bull in love with the moon”, “Argonauts”, ”Three apostles”, “Bull zeibekiko” and “Bull fight”. In her work one can notice flying priests, people enigmatically standing with umbrellas, boats in stormy oceans and mysterious rituals with bulls …
They are colourful compositions, full of freshness and vitality. The artist uses elements from children’s and naïve art to create a dreamlike atmosphere full of poetry and lyricism."
The Center for Environmental Education of Salamiou. Photo: www.salamioucee.org