Artist Spotlight MPilar Vargas III

Lake Mary resident Maria del Pilar Vargas has had a year of re-invention. Her work has evolved continuously since finding her painter's expression through the “Ancestral Voices” series created several years ago.
Pilar's vision dances with the insights of expressive countrymen whose faces are ambiguous enough to invite a healthy dose of projection.
“I want to tell people that there's always a history behind the people, behind the face. If you look at my faces, you can see a child, you can see a mother, you can see a woman, everybody has a story,” she explained through the enchanting lilt to her deep Colombian accent during an interview in May of 2013.
These stripped-down and brightly-hued campesino tableaux are the building blocks she uses to convey timelessly emotive scenes.
 “Ancestral Voices” is not exactly old news for Pilar, but she has sought new vehicles to express her elemental tale of spirit of the indigenous and Afro-Colombian people from her motherland.
When her show for the Enterprise Cultural Center came around early this February, she'd prepared by spending her winter in the throes of creation to come about with her “Hulia's Soul” vein.
Taking its cues from “Ancestral Voices,” this more essential and minimalist incarnation of Pilar's lens would divine her most recent expression through the soothingly bare backscapes and muted tones to be seen in her “Journeys” line.
 “Journeys” will open at the Lake Mary Museum this Friday evening with an open house reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and will hang through July 2. Inclusive of this assemblage are 10 all new paintings conceived for the event.
These fresh cuts are gently reminiscent of the sea for undulating and aqueous backgrounds as Pilar has been meditating on the residents of the Pacific-Colombian region and along the hilly countryside's rolling rivers.
Where the edges of scenery meets ego, she mused for a moment about her collection and its creation during another interview early this week. “The mashing two colors is like a calling back--like a spiritual connection with those communities and when I talk about my paintings I'm very connected with that. This series can attract me very much because it's not necessary to have a lot of material things to be happy, or to have hopes, or love. Before starting those paintings I was searching for these people through videos or music and they are happy no matter if they are poor but that’s not my intention. My intention is to show positive vibes, and that we can connect and be happy through the other thing so I can say 'I want to share this one with you',” she said through her romantic inflections and canticle tone.
Evocative sepia squares constructed with a tick-tock rhythm suited to nostalgic reminiscences as the clockwork imaginings run backward into the numerology of perfection and intuition.
The journey described on these canvases is plainly her own-- yet she voices the aspect of self-common to us all. Pilar has been conscious of the sacred geometry she's found in the proportions of her characters as well as the dimensions and quantity of her paintings. Her quest to depict balance and a closeness with source has come full circle in this collection.
Stop in during Friday's reception from 6 to 8 p.m. or “Journeys” can be seen during museum hours through July 2. These events are free and open to the public.

Jessica Pirani, Herald Arts Columnist, JessieBerger@yahoo.com