Global anchor of Oswaldo Vigas
Jurate Rosales
Zeta magazine
Caracas, Venezuela. November 21st, 2014
Few artists have the privilege of knowing that after death, one will enforce the product of their life and fewer still can die knowing that their work will receive international acclaim. This is the exceptional case of the painter Oswaldo Vigas.
Oswaldo Vigas died on April 22nd, 2014 in Caracas, leaving the responsability of his entire work to his son, filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas and to his widow Janine Vigas. The Foundation that would take care of his artistic legacy was already created, but it was not possible to see the dimension that Lorenzo and Janine, two unconditional admirers of the work of Oswaldo would give to the Foundation, as they themselves admit. On October 9th, the first travelling exhibition of Vigas opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lima, Peru. The next stage will be in Santiago de Chile, where the collection which spans his most significant works in a life retrospective will be presented on January 15th at the National Museum of Fine Arts. The plan is to visit the major capitals of the whole American continent, ending the journey in Caracas.
The inauguration in Lima was a major event in the art world, in the presence of a large audience, with reviews in virtually all the national press. It had the unique opportunity in that Lorenzo, as a filmmaker, let embodied in a professionally finished documental the event which highlights the splendor of the Museum building, the public that attended and in the foreground, the work of Oswaldo exposed in the halls.
Another not less valuable video documentary, covered the pre-opening, where the widow described to the museum guides that accompanied the visitors and to a group of guests, not only the meaning of the work of a painter who strived first to be Latin American and in second place contemporary with his artistic era, but what has been her life by his side, giving a human touch to what would have been an event exclusively versed in the artistic themes. In fact, what promised to be a retrospective of an artist in his continental tour, thanks to the films of his son will be more than that because the event is a filmed document that can also claim the appeal of being a work of art. Note also that the curator Bélgica Rodríguez came from Caracas to personally collaborate with the assembling of the sample.
For Venezuela, without the government spending a penny because all the spending is taken care by the Foundation ("we will be 'sur la Paille - "broke" but we would have done it" confesses Janine in a private letter), it is an exceptional promotional tour of Venezuelan values. The sample was placed on the top of the artistic world of each country if we measure where, how and for what public each exhibition is directed to, besides having enjoyed in its first stop in Lima exceptional heavy media coverage.