Review - Margo Vigorito
Margo Vigorito is currently showing an enjoyable and thought
provoking exhibition of 12 artworks: 3 acrylic/collage and mixed
media paintings on the library walls, and 9 mixed media works on
paper in the glass display cases.
Bamboo Flow #1, a triptych, shows striking black and ochre forms against a white background, drawn thick and thin with the brush, and making me think of Chinese calligraphy. These are abstracted bamboo forms. In Margo's other works, forms and subjects are completely abstracted, challenging the viewer to read them, as well as being visual delights in colour and brushstroke.
Gold, Black & Red #1 and #2 are compositions of broad brush strokes and thin paint dribbles in black, grey and ochre with an exciting little flash of red.
This is only part of the Whole shows pleasing ochre and white box-like forms on black. These forms (symbols?) remind me of buildings here, but they may have other meanings or uses for Margo, as they appear again in other works, such as Red in the Black. As a composition of squares and blocks of colour with a red square within the black, it sounds literal but there's more happening than first glance shows, with enigmatic bits of text, eg "Dancing in the Dark." The work with the intriguing title of When the Instructor Spouts her Pearls of Wisdom is visually pleasing, but what is she saying; is she talking about another person or is she smiling at herself? The boxes are there, and as in many of her other works, the big, broad painterly brush strokes, painted quickly and with evident passion. In fact she says in her artist's statement: "You will read me in every painting, in each and every stroke; you will witness my love affairs, my desperation, my joys and my passion; MY LIFE!
What is it like to be an Artist is something different again - all handwritten white text on black - but not abstracted. Here, Margo expresses her feelings as an artist. Two excerpts from it: "They say that to teach is to touch a life forever ... How lucky am I that I can do this! And express myself as an artist as well!" ... "More than anything, I do what I love and love what I do!! Because of this, I consider myself one of the lucky ones." Great stuff. Go see!
- Cressida Fox
(Extracted from the
Contemporary Art Society Newsletter July - August
2005)
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updated 15 Nov 2005
