Abigail Varela | |
|---|---|
 2014 | |
| Born | 9 February 1948 |
| Known for | Sculpture, drawing |
Abigail Varela (born February 9, 1948) is a Venezuelan visual artist. He is best known for bronze sculptures representing pre-Columbian of abstract feminine figures interpreted in modern style in poses that suggest motion. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Varela began his art education under Japanese ceramist Hiroshi Kawagiri followed by courses at art schools in Caracas. Varela produces flat silhouetted large sculptures, evolving into classic cast bronzes with a polished dark finish. Other works are made in solid aluminum. Varela's favorite theme is feminity in bulky shapes that somehow manage to suggest lightness and movement. His shapes have been likened to those of the Venus of Willendorf. A touch of humor inhabits many of Varela's sculptures. [1]
Varela's art is noted in Venezuela and beyond. [1] [6] [7] His work has been exhibited in New York (Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery), London (Cynthia Bourne Gallery), San Salvador (Galería Espacio), Coral Gables (Galería Freites-Revilla) and Boca Raton (Elaine Baker Gallery) among other places. A retrospective of Varela's art was presented at the BOD Center in Caracas in 2014. [3] In 2018 his work was chosen (among 22 pieces) for exhibition at the CAF gallery (Caracas) representing Times and Trends in Latin American Sculpture. [8] His art has been reviewed in essays and books. [9] [10] [11] His pieces occupy the art collections of Venezuelan institutions such as the National Art Gallery (Caracas), Contemporary Art Museum, Empresas Polar Foundation and Fundación Cultural Chacao. It is found in open-air art museums in Venezuelan locations (Mérida, Valencia, Aroa and Margarita Island [12] ) as well as in Huelva (Spain) and at the Suncheon Bay National Garden, Korea. [13]
In 2014 Varela was awarded the Omar Carreño Prize for Plastic Arts offered jointly by the Venezuelan Architects Association and the National Association of Plastic Artists. [14]
Varela's name is listed in established artist directories including ULAN, Artnet, Christie's, Benezit, in Marta Traba's Art of Latin America [15] and in Leonard's Price Index of Latin American Art. [16]
Jesús Rafael Soto was a Venezuelan op and kinetic artist, a sculptor and a painter.
Rodolfo Abularach was a Guatemalan painter and printmaker of Palestinian descent.
Jorge Blanco is a Venezuelan-born American artist, who emigrated to the United States in 1999. He has spent his professional career working as a sculptor, graphic designer and illustrator. His work is in public sites in the United States, South America and Japan. Blanco is an international artist who has created a sculptural language over more than thirty years. Blanco has placed 25 public art sculptures in large format across the globe. In addition to public art, Blanco continues his life trajectory with collectible sculptures, his comic strip "The Castaway," and furniture design. His artworks form part of sales in auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's. In 1971, Blanco graduated as an industrial designer from the Neumann Institute of Design in Caracas, Venezuela. Under the mentorship of European artists living as expatriates in Caracas, Blanco learned to integrate industrial design with creative processes. His instructors were predominantly artists, such as Gego and Cornelis Zitman, who emphasized artistry in their classrooms. Blanco graduated with a degree in industrial design upon the completion of his first furniture line for children, which was a thesis project. Immediately after graduation Blanco began his career as a sculptor, freelance graphic designer and furniture designer. In the late 70s he studied at Rome's Academy of Fine Arts. During his stay in Europe Blanco also uncovered the world of cartoonists. This discovery led Blanco to create the comic strip, "The Castaway." In 1980, "The Castaway" made its debut in El Diario de Caracas. T Castaway was widely disseminated across the city, including the city's metro system. Eight books have been published on Blanco's "The Castaway." As "The Castaway" continued to live its success, Blanco illustrated more than twenty storybooks for children and countless educational books. His accomplishments as illustrator led him to El Museo de los Niños, where he served as Creative Director for twenty years.Like the work of his primary influences, Klee, Miró, Herbin and Calder, Blanco's presents his sculptures in primary colors. Blanco's largest body of work has been created and fabricated in the United States, where he lives and works since 1999. His artwork has received multiple accolades.
Eliseo Valdés Erustes is a Cuban artist specializing in sculpture, painting, and drawing.
Jacobo Borges is a contemporary, neo-figurative Latin-American artist. His curiosity for exploring different mediums made him a painter, drawer, film director, stage designer and plastic artist. Known for his ever-evolving style, there is one constant principle that unites his work: "the search for the creation of space somewhere between dreams and reality where everything has happened, happens, and may happen." His theoretical approach and unique, innovative technique has won him acclaim all over the world. He has had solo exhibitions in France, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Britain and the United States. Today, he is considered one of the most accomplished artist of Latin America. His oeuvre includes a rich body of paintings, a film directed in 1969, and a book The Great Mountain and Its Era, published in 1979. In 1982, a biography by Dore Ashton, called Jacobo Borges, was published in English and Spanish.
Humberto Calzada is a Cuban-American artist living in Miami, Florida, since 1960.
Geula Kohen Moradov commonly known as Geula Zylberman or Geula is a naturalized Venezuelan abstract impressionist artist that emigrated to Venezuela in 1940. She rose to national fame in 1969 as a part of the figurative movement that took root in Latin America, painting picturesque Venezuelan landscapes and renowned portraits of Simon Bolivar. The positive domestic critical acclaim catapulted her to international recognition between 1971 and 1989, earning international recognition for her paintings and murals with exhibitions in countries such as Israel, the United States, Canada, Belgium, Brazil, France, Romania, and Honduras. Most recently, true to her ancestral roots, Geula has shifted into painting Judaica themes with a strong Zionist flare and national Israeli sentiment. As a result, Geula's artwork has constantly been representative of either Venezuelan or Israeli identity. Her art has been exhibited in Venezuelan federal and government buildings, the Israeli Knesset, major museums, and private collections worldwide.
Joel Gerardo Casique was an artist who formed the Escuela Cristóbal Rojas de Caracas. He obtained an art degree at the Art Students League of New York. He has exhibited his work in galleries and museums in Venezuela, the United States, and Aruba; he has also participated in national and international fairs, including the sixteenth and seventeenth Ferias Iberoamericanas de Arte (FIA) in Caracas; the 2007 Latin American Art Fair in Miami; and the 2006 Feria Internacional de Arte de Bogotá (ARTBO) in Bogotá, Colombia.
Harry Abend, OFM was a Polish-born Venezuelan sculptor and architect.
Elsa Gramcko (1925–1994) was a Venezuelan artist, known as an abstract sculptor and painter. Her earlier works, which date from 1954, were geometric paintings, while her later works were more tachist in nature. While her earlier works consisted of mostly paintings, she expanded into sculpture and assemblage in the 1960s and 1970s.
Wladimiro Politano is an Italian sculptor, painter and drawer.
The National Art Gallery also known as Gallery of National Art is located in the Plaza Morelos area of Caracas, Venezuela. The museum opened in May 1976. In 2009 it moved to a new building designed by Carlos Gómez de Llerena, Venezuela's largest museum building.
Muu Blanco, is a multidisciplinary Venezuelan artist. He works in the plastic arts, performance, drawing, photography, electronic music, conceptual video, and handbag design. His compositions have been presented locally as well as internationally, including in cities like: New York City, Berlin, Miami, Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, London, Vancouver and Milan. His work has been regarded as a criticism to power, wealth and narcissism, as well as commentary on the urban landscape of modern Caracas.
Jim Amaral is an American-born Colombian artist known for his drawings and bronze sculptures. Over a career that spans more than half a century, Amaral has also been dedicated to painting, etchings, collages, furniture design, assemblages/objects, and artist’s books. The artist has been widely recognized for his draughtsmanship, the subtlety and refinement of his technique as well as his imaginative and cultured universe. As a constant experimenter, Amaral has developed a unique aesthetics and symbolism and therefore has never belonged to any style or movement in particular. However, his work has been linked, for example, to surrealism and ancient Greece (sculpture). His art is deeply rooted in the psychological realms of the human existence. Amaral has always been focused on the condition of the human being, especially the topic of death and the passing time. "I am only trying to understand the world, to live through my painting. I am trying to understand certain mysteries, such as the energies of life and death, the loneliness of a man (...) I paint what people can reflect upon, so that what stays with the spectator is not only the visual impact".
Alirio Palacios was a Venezuelan visual artist known for his drawings, graphic designing, printmaking and sculpture. Horse figures were often motifs of his graphic art and sculpture, an obsession he developed during his long stay in China. Among other awards, Palacios won the National Prize of Plastic Arts of Venezuela in 1977. His work is on display in museums and public sites internationally, including the presidential Palace and the National Supreme Court in Caracas, the Casa de Las Américas in Havana, and the University of Edinburgh where Palacio's portrait of the first Venezuelan President Jose Maria Vargas is on permanent display.
Maria Teresa Torras, was Venezuelan-nationalized Spanish artist specializing in sculpture, textiles and metalwork.
Carlos Medina is a Venezuelan-born France-based visual artist primarily known for his minimalist geometric compositions and significant spatial interventions, which combine sculpture techniques and plastic arts. He has had over twenty exhibitions in museums worldwide, and his works are present in collections, and public spaces, in countries such as Italy, France, Belgium, Yugoslavia, the United States, South Korea, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.
Elba Damast was a Venezuelan artist.
Ani Villanueva is a Venezuelan visual and performance artist who is best known for her performances and collaborative works during the 1980s. Her work is heavily influenced by her extensive education that she received throughout her life. Many of her more notable performances juxtapose fantasy with reality, while her later paintings are abstract and minimalist.
Francisco Narváez was commissioned to create pieces for the University City of Caracas campus in 1949, initially working between 1950 and 1953, with other pieces added later. The artworks include stone and metal statues, busts, reliefs, and various material of murals. Three of the statues are made of Cumarebo stone: El Atleta, a large statue in the sports complex, and La educación and La ciencia in the medical complex. The Cumarebo stone is a favourite material of Narváez. Two sculptures of the esteemed doctor José Gregorio Hernández and President José María Vargas grace the campus grounds.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
