A new exhibition is set to open at Gloria Gallery on the first day of November, hosting Susan Vargas’ works under the title Vanitas. The official opening will take place at 7.30pm with art theorist Dr Natia Anaxagorou introducing the exhibition.
“Susan Vargas develops a highly personal idiom that resonates with universal roots, blending European trends with the art of Cyprus and Latin America, her homeland, in a playful yet profound synthesis,” says Anaxagorou in anticipation of the opening.
The pieces showcased include textile works, drawings and paintings depicting inverted human figures and limbs, landscapes and floral portraits, skulls, animal carcasses and images that constitute an elegy to life and death. “This body of work,” adds Anaxagorou, “stands as a cry for liberation from nightmare-like dream memories and seeks the restorative resurrection or ascent that the universe radiates through the flight of a bird or the tender touch of a cat.”
Niki Loizidi, Professor Emerita of Art History at the Athens School of Fine Arts, also says about Vanitas: “I believe that Susan Vargas’ multicultural experiences have allowed her to avoid the superficial alignment with so-called postmodern aesthetic trends, which influenced the periphery in a manner I might describe as culturally ‘neo-colonial.’ In her captivating thematic repertoire, she intertwines biblical narratives, stories from Cyprus and Latin America, bullfights and wars, themes from Greek mythology, migration, natural disasters, dreams and personal myths. I would say that all her works – textiles, oil paintings, drawings, and installations – display an expressive spontaneity that is often tender but also harsh, even violent, yet never simplistic.”
Vanitas
Art exhibition by Susan Vargas. November 1-18. Gloria Gallery, Nicosia. Opening night: 7.30pm. Monday: 6pm – 8pm.Tuesday – Friday: 10.30am – 12.45pm and 66pm to 8pm, and Saturday: 10.30am – 12.45pm. Tel: 22-762605
