The first time I participated in the Salon Dycvensa of Caracas

The first time I was accepted to participate in the collective show entitled Salon Dycvensa in Caracas, I was extremely happy. It was a great accomplishment for me. I participated with a painting I did with my fingers in barely 10 minutes. I called it ¨The Avila Mountain is Burning!¨ (in Spanish, ¨!El Avila se está quemando!¨. The Avila Mountain is emblematic of Caracas, it tells us where the North is located and cleans the air for all this city´s inhabitants. It is also beautiful and imposing. But sometimes when it gets too hot spontaneous fires arise and burn down a lot of it and some of the native fauna suffers tremendously. There was one year when I could hear the crackling of the branches on fire from the balcony of my apartment and the ashes and soot and smell of smoke would become overwhelming. The fire lasted for days and days. I used to see the measly helicopter carrying buckets of water to quench the fire, almost as if a hummingbird carried water in its beak to put the fire out. At the same time there was a fire near my aunt´s house. A mango tree from the next-door neighbor caught fire. That mango tree was directly over the roof of my aunt´s house. My aunt was 75 years old and had to get up on the roof and throw buckets of water at the tree in flames. I was in a state of shock. I wasn´t anywhere nearby to help and felt amazed at the efforts she made to prevent her house from burning down to the ground. All these events shocked and caused an impression on me and compelled me to paint the painting. 

Here is a link in Spanish that states the names of the other fellow artists who participated: Para la muestra, un jurado calificado evaluó un total de 76 piezas entre fotografías, esculturas y pinturas, a partir de las cuales escogieron 31 obras. El grupo quedó conformado por talentosos artistas de Lara, Bolívar, Aragua, Sucre, Monagas, Falcón y hasta de nacionalidad argentina, francesa y británica, lo cual indica la importancia, diversidad y expansión del Salón de Artes Visuales Dycvensa.

Entre los elegidos están: María Elena Álvarez, Vanessa Balleza, Marco Antonio Bello, Ramseit Cairos, María Eugenia Catoni, María Júlia Cidras, Marisol Cives, Nathaly Dams, Arlette Darmon, Kehylee Degano, Carlota Delgado, Dalia Ferreira, Néstor García, Víctor García Avellaneda, Marienna García Gallo y Hensen García González.

De igual forma participarán: Miguel García Moya, Dinorah Giménez, Irama Gómez, Carlos Hergueta, Clara López, Marisa Manuzzato, Alexandra Masson, Emelina Melian, Carmen Michelena, Juan Mogollón, Fran Morales, Linda Phillips, Cecilia Urbaneja, Eva Uzcátegui y Carmen Zoila Príncipe.

Como en años anteriores, en los días previos al cierre de la exposición se reunirá un jurado con amplia y conocida trayectoria en artes visuales para elegir la “Mejor Obra” y “Mejor Fotografía”, galardones a los cuales se unirá el “Premio Ciudadano Dycvensa”, otorgado por la votación del público asistente al salón.

La premiación y cierre de la exposición será el domingo 21 de noviembre, fecha en la que representantes de la constructora otorgarán en metálico el incentivo de ocho mil bolívares para cada ganador, lo que suma un total veinticuatro mil bolívares a repartir entre los tres artistas más destacados de la muestra.