Creator, man, friend
Amy Courvoisier
Últimas Noticias
Caracas, Venezuela. March 21st, 1982
Vigas the man, Vigas the friend, I have followed his path since about thirty years ago. He came from his hometown, Valencia, like I have come from Paris. Our first meeting took place, if I remember well, at the corner of Pájaro, or else, in the whereabouts of El Silencio. At that time we used to swarm around the downtown of Caracas. I lived one block apart from the Plaza Bolivar, and Vigas, as I seem to recall, lived in the Pantheon neighborhood.
Our group was not big, and perhaps that is the reason that helped to consolidate our friendship.
We later drifted apart from each other, but not for long, because I have followed his tracks in the Latin Quarter in Paris, where almost every year we found him, always the same, smiling, friendly, always in a good mood, despite that everything not always smiled to him. We spent the afternoon or evening at the Rue Dauphine, in his study where the door was never closed and which served both as a workshop and as a sleeping room. It was either there, or at the Café St. Andre-des-Arts, were we met with Angel Hurtado, Humberto Jaimes Sánchez, Juan Sánchez Peláez, Suzanne, and later with Hugo Batista, Charles Popineau and many others.
It was by these means, that I have not only followed the evolution of the art of Vigas, but also his moods, dreams, hopes, and why not? His adventures. Sometimes Vigas goes through anxious moments of doubt. But I would not say of anguish, but yes, of “emptiness”. But, which is the artists who never knows moments of uncertainty, and -why not- of depression. However, Vigas is not the depressive type. He has lengthy moments of silence which are moments of reflection, because Vigas is a "thinker" and this is not a vague word. A thousand ideas come to his mind, problems beset him. He is immersed either in contemporary history as well as in the history of religions. He is intrigued by everything: philosophy, psychology; he is a passionate of life.
Since his beginnings, Vigas’ art is a totally personal art. He could not be assimilated to schools, groups or any specific influence. Maybe he has not been impervious to everything that Picasso represents as a painter or as a man? Who has not felt in the course of our century, enveloped by Picasso? Picasso dominates the history, the whole history of art even today?
For Vigas, Picasso has also been a presence. It is true that Vigas was not the only one dazzled emotionally and morally by the magnetism of this great painter, one of the geniuses of our time.
I lived next to Picasso during the war years. I have known the strength of his personality, the magnetism that dominated us, we were a small group of friends which included: Paul Eluard, Robert Desnos, Yuki, Georges Auric, Jacques Prevert, Georges Hugnet, Françoise Gillot, André Beaudin, Dominguez, Pierre Berger, Lucien, Coutaud Felix Labisse, Dora Maar, André Marchand, Marie Picabia, and others. This is why I can understand how Picasso could influenced a Wifredo Lam, an Oscar Dominguez a Paul Eluard, and -why not- an Oswaldo Vigas.
But from the beginning, the art of Vigas which included paintings, engravings, prints, tapestries, and ceramics -all related to the art of painting- could not be compared with others. His witches? Yes, they chased him from our walks around the corner of Padre Sierra, and they did not abandon him, but instead kept transforming themselves whenever he kept getting close to them. Through the elaboration of paintings, prints, tapestries, ceramics, Vigas advances with a surprising security that does not falter. At least in some ways he approaches Picasso: the same easiness to renew himself, the same force of youth.
Vigas is a man of our time, even though his witches are older than the witches of Miller. If he got immersed in the past, I think it was to approach the black art, or rather, the pre-Columbian art which is not separated from the Latin American art of our time and from his art as well.
If Vigas explores all the hidden corners of his witches, it is not because he is not a man of our time. He knows for example what the film brings to the arts. Its language is universal. Vigas loves movies as much as the surrealists liked them. He chooses the most heteroclite films [sic]. This is perhaps the only point that I object with. While on one side he likes horror, fiction and magic stories -¡the witches are there! –, on the other side, I am very hard on my choice. But beside this, we do not have other opposing points
In an interview that I made to him one day in Paris I wrote this: "Oswaldo Vigas has his eyes wide open to life; and his art, his reflections, his sincere smile are focused towards life. He runs away from everything that is opposite to life. His art accompanies him, and expresses everything that life can provide, in troubles, joys, reflections, hesitations, doubts”.
I wrote those words exactly twenty-five years ago.
And I was not mistaken.