magic reef 3 Painting

GUSTAVO VEJARANO 1952 Growing up in Bogota, he studied in David Manzur’s studio (1973), and later formed part of the collective, Taller la Huella (1976). This art collective was formed by artists exploring the arts of etching, silk screen, painting, drawing, and photography and allowed Gustavo to continue his training. His art, which was influenced by the difficult social upheavals of the time, showed strong fragmented figures of expressionistic nature. In 1982, Vejarano was invited to participate in the Paris Biennale as a representative of Colombia. He travelled to Paris where he decided to stay and continue his training at Studio 18 under the guidance of S.W. Heyter (1984). Paris was a shock that awakened his inner work as he was exposed to centuries of art and culture which was further enhanced by the vibrancy of living in a cosmopolitan city where so many cultures coexist and mingle. The Parisian culture soon started to influence his work as his previous interest in social issues started to fade and turned into an inner search for the root of the subconscious influences that control our behavior, namely instinct and desire. The notion that art is a path to knowledge allowing us to explore both the inner worlds and how this affects our experience with the outer world became the cornerstone in his search for sense and significance. One day, as he was working on a large painting of a dancer, a vortex of wind started to flow out of the dancer’s mouth. This wind became a force that began to break the painting’s surface which led him to a new series of drawings and paintings that explored the cosmic forces, represented by the elements in nature: air, fire and water This sudden change of direction in his development as an artist has remained a constant in the course of his career as a new vein of research appears firing his inspiration. Through this course of his exploration of the spiritual world, accompanied by teachings related to the subtle aspects of our nature, he was introduced to new influences that gave a new direction to his work. This led to the birth of a new series he later named “Matrices” where undulating forms filled the space. His understanding of nature and the spiritual world continued to progress and around 2002 the evolution of these abstract forms began to take shape in a nature series nature as seen in a garden.