1980

Vigas participates in the Chicago International Art Exhibition at the Navy Pier, Chicago; Venezuelan Art Today Boston 350 Years, a traveling exhibition that tours Boston, Washington D.C., and New York; Contemporary Andean Art Exhibit at the University of Pittsburgh; Momentos de la pintura venezolana en el siglo XX at the Centro Venezolano de Cultura, Bogota; II Ibero-American Biennial of Art, Drawing and Etching, Instituto Cultural Pedro Domecq, Mexico; and XXXI Salon de Mai, a tribute to Sonia Delaunay, at the Centre d’Art. He presents the solo exhibition Oswaldo Vigas, óleos sobre tela, gouaches y tapicerías at the Embassy of Venezuela in Paris. He is invited by the Taller de Artes Gráficas Asociados (TAGA) to participate in a traveling group exhibition in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. He participates in Indagación de la imagen: la figura, el ámbito, el objeto, Galería de Arte Nacional, as well as in Nueve Premios Nacionales, Galería Durban, Caracas, and Galardonados con el Premio Arturo Michelena, Ateneo de Valencia.

“Oswaldo Vigas’ art– even his gouaches, which because of their nature, should be at the opposite pole– is essentially mural. I almost feel tempted to say ‘architectural’… The wool masters seem to have understood him very well, because they managed to translate his deep intentions into wool, his broad respiratory rhythm, contained without force, making these tapestries truly monumental works despite their modest size.”

Pierre Masteau, Le Courrier du Meuble, November 14, 1980, Paris

1981

Vigas exhibits alongside Manuel Quintana Castilla and Mario Abreu in the exhibition Three Venezuelan Painters, Galería Venezuela, New York. He presents his solo exhibition Oswaldo Vigas, Galería Municipal de Arte Moderno, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. He takes part in the group exhibitions Pro-Posición 20 and Los premios nacionales, pintura y escultura at the Galería de Arte Nacional in Caracas, Homage to Picasso: Fifty Contemporary Artists for the Centenary of his Birth at Palazzo Robellini, Italy and Homenaje a Picasso at the Galería Durban, Caracas. He presents Tapicerías de Oswaldo Vigas at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, which includes tapestries made ​​between 1971 and 1978 in various workshops (in France: Ateliers Camille Legoueix, Aubusson, and Ateliers Pierre Daquin, Chantilly; in Spain: Telarte; in Portugal: Vittoria Art Workshops; in Mexico: Weavers Center in Xonatatlán).

“For us, this experience proves that paintings such as Vigas’ are made for the wall because they are materiological, and this materiology changes their nature: rather than being pictorial, the work becomes textile, but it retains this potential possibility of the wall. I think we should try to break away from the path indicated by some modern architecture and give to the wall, and particularly to the inner wall, a warmth it does not have... We think that this exhibition will be an excellent opportunity to show the mural potential of Oswaldo’s works.”

Pierre Daquin, Tapicerías by Oswaldo Vigas exhibition catalog, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, November 1981

1982

Vigas works on the execution of the relief-mural Homenaje a la cultura de Tacarigua for the façade of the Ateneo de Valencia, Carabobo, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Salón Arturo Michelena. He takes part in the first SIDOR Salon in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. In Caracas, he participates in the group exhibitions Selección de adquisiciones y donaciones 1979-1982, Museo de Bellas Artes; Obras de la Colección Permanente, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas; and in the XXI Aniversario de la Galería El Muro, along with Briceño, Omar Carreño, Carlos González Bogen, Luis Guevara Moreno, Mateo Manaure, Régulo Pérez, Manuel Quintana Castillo, Virgilio Trómpiz, Ramón Vásquez Brito, and Pedro León Zapata. He presents the solo exhibition Oswaldo Vigas at the Mérida Bar Association, and participates in Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures at Christie’s, New York.

1983

Vigas is included in the group exhibition to be permanently installed at the General Consulate of Venezuela in New York, and in other group exhibitions, such as Bolívar hoy at the Galería Acquavella in Caracas, along with Gabriel Bracho, Leo Castro, Pedro Centeno Vallenilla, Luis Guevara Moreno, Humberto Jaimes Sánchez, Alirio Palacios, Héctor Poleo, César Rengifo, and others; 12 pintores venezolanos, premios nacionales, Galería Durban; II Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales and XVII Extraordinary Congress of Art Critics, both at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber; and Nueve artistas contemporáneos, a traveling exhibition seen in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Jamaica. He presents solo shows of tapestries, paintings, and gouaches in the Galería Centro Arte El Parque, in Valencia, Venezuela.

1984

Vigas presents Ritos elementales as the office of the Secretary of Culture of Zulia, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He participates in the group exhibition 100 obras de la Colección del Museo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Museum’s foundation, and Seis premios nacionales de las artes plásticas, with Mario Abreu, León Castro, Luis Guevara Moreno, Humberto Jaimes Sánchez, and Braulio Salazar, at the Universidad de Carabobo. The Galería Durban opens Oswaldo Vigas, Ídolos y personajes. He was invited as a participant and jury member in the II Bienal Nacional de Dibujo y Grabado, Museo de Arte La Rinconada, Caracas.

“Baudelaire said, ‘To handle language wisely is to practice a kind of evocative witchcraft.’ Vigas wisely handles his language, and his witchcraft is evocative. But… Vigas is a painter philosopher. The true philosopher does not have a fixed idea that always accompanies him or her.”

Ludovico Silva, “Oswaldo Vigas,” Lamigal magazine #3, June 1984, Caracas

1985

Vigas participates in the group exhibitions América y lo real maravilloso, homenaje a Alejo Carpentier, Museo de Arte de la Rinconada; Artistas de Venezuela por Amnistía Internacional, Galería Los Espacios Cálidos, Ateneo de Caracas; Vertientes de una generación, Concejo Municipal del Distrito Federal; Obras actuales de los premios nacionales, Galería Universitaria de Arte, UCV; Sentido de volumen-esculturas, Colectiva 85, and La mujer en el arte, Galería Durban; Les grandes de l’art vénézuélien: subjectivité et lyrisme, organized by Gaston Diehl, Embassy of Venezuela in Paris. The artist presents Oswaldo Vigas, Pinturas at the Galería de Arte Viva México, Caracas.

1986

Vigas participates in Colectiva 85, Galería Durban; AGPA 85, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber; X Aniversario, Euro-American Art Center; Bijoux Wiso 1986, Unión Israelita de Caracas; Arte por la paz, Galería de Arte Viva México, Caracas; Pintores de los países bolivarianos, Museo de Arte La Rinconada; Pintores contemporáneos, Galería Acquavella; Raíces Andinas en el Arte Contemporáneo, Banco Central de Venezuela; Oswaldo Vigas y Víctor Valera, Galería Durban; The Latin American Graphic Arts Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York. Two new themes loom in the course of this year: peace, represented in the mother, and children and birds that fly, from which the artist makes a series of sketches and oil paintings. Another theme emerges in the crucifixion, inspired by antique etchings of the fifteenth century and the famous Crucifixion by Grünwald, as well as by previous work of the artist.

1987

The artist participates in a group exhibition at the Josip Broz Tito Gallery for the Non-Aligned Countries in Titograd, Yugoslavia. He also participates in Artistas Latinomericanos, at the Casa del Moral, Arequipa, and Certamen Internacional de Artes Plásticas, Ancón, Peru; and Gráfica venezolana contemporánea, Kikar Gallery, Jaffa, Israel. He participates in Bijoux Wiso 1987, homage to Víctor Valera, at the Unión Israelita de Caracas; Pintores nacionales, at the Acquavella; Lectura del arte nacional, at the Galería de Arte Nacional; Paisajes andinos, Oswaldo Vigas y Marius Sznajderman, at the Ateneo de Caracas; Tribute to Gaston Diehl, at the Alliance Française; and 13 Pintores, at the Galería Durban.

“Vigas does not kill spontaneity in his work. He loosens his arm, he is carried away by nature. The painting seems to spring from his fingers, the colors come out of his bloodstream, the strokes are a true reflection of the turns his spirit takes.”

José Pulido, “Vigas y su estilo son un bloque inamovible,” El Nacional, July 18, 1987, Caracas

1989

In Caracas Vigas takes part in the group exhibitions Ceremoniales – Trabajos Recientes at the Centro Armitano de Arte and Arte de los países bolivarianos at the Museo de Bellas Artes. The then-president of France, François Mitterrand, receives one of his oil paintings, Materna, as a gift from the Republic of Venezuela on his official visit to the country.