Alejandro Obregón

Happy Thursday, my lovely ladies!

 

So today, let me tell you my favorite thing about art…knowing that I’ve probably told you ten other favorite things about art…but today, THIS is my favorite thing about art; sometimes, through something completely random, you’ll learn about an artist you’ve never heard of before, and their work will be so beautiful it makes your knees get weak.  And that person, whoever they are, might be just “meh” to somebody else, because we all see things in the context of our own lives and experiences, and we all love different things best…and we’re all right.  That is so utterly amazing to me.

 

So…yesterday at work, your Auntie was talking about culture with some friends, one of whom is from Colombia.  So since I was going to be writing to you today, I thought I’d see if I could find a Colombian artist that I like – and it turns out I like lots of Colombian artists whose names I know well, but since I rarely know off the top of my head where an artist is actually from, I hadn’t made that connection.  But as I was looking up names, I read that the man who is considered to be the father of modern Colombian painting is Daniel Alberto Alejandro María de la Santísima Trinidad Obregón Roses, (but he’s known as just Alejandro Obregón)…I’ve always loved Catholic peoples’ names, because they get to have so many, and each piece has meaning and symbolism, so his name made me happy and I decided to look up his work…and it’s AWESOME.  It’s amazing and beautiful and for me, this is the kind of work that connects to my soul.  I would like to stand in front of one of his paintings someday, so that I can see the brush strokes on the canvas. 

 

A little bit about Alejandro…he painted mostly in the mid-1900s, and lived all over the world.  He was married 3 times, and – my favorite thing - he painted a LOT of condors; there were condors in over 50 of his paintings.  The condor is in the Colombian coat of arms, and also represents liberty and vitality…and since so many of my paintings include birds, I can relate to finding a connection to a winged thing and choosing to paint it often!

 

A lot of his work is a little dark – there was significant political turmoil when he was painting – so I won’t put images of those here, but I am including a few of my new favorites that are also beautiful – the first is a condor (look at how he painted the feathers by layering in all those geometric shapes and colors – I can’t get over that; I love it!), and the second and third are more abstract.  I love the third one so much – I was part of an art project about “the following sea” a while back –that’s an expression for when you’re in a boat and the waves are going the same direction you are – and that piece looks to me like a man in a boat; his head is down and he’s tired because he’s been rowing a long time and is still far from shore, but the following sea is coming up behind him to help bring him home.  I’m sure that’s not what Alejandro was painting, that’s just what it says to me.  The last one is the one I NEED to see live someday – it’s so beautiful it makes my heart ache with the love of having seen it.

 

In any case, that’s all for this week, and I hope that you find artists whose work you love, and who inspire you to be bold and beautiful and brave today!

Know that I love you and think that you’re awesome.

Hugs and kisses,

Auntie Paula

xoxoxoxoxo