Another art fair weekend is behind us, with about one dozen new murals remaining in SN, as eternal souvenirs from the event.
The program included many different attractions and performances, workshops and exhibits, including the Art-Fashion Show on Wednesday.
The list of local and international artists participating was impressive.
It is a much liked and followed annual thing!
It is important to mention that the Art Fair is inclusive, and while a curator is in charge of displaying the art in the two official galleries, everyone is welcome, the lines between art and artisania are sometime blurred interchanging art and décor, art and artistic expression.
Apparently, the days of the French Academy members selecting just a handful few that conformed with their taste, are long over.
We’re all about self-expression and unleashing our inner artists.
Why did we just have two galleries instead of the three promised and why was the biggest gallery, the former Cosecha, unavailable??
The landlord insisted on insurance, and since the Art Fair flies by the seat of its pants, most of the time, and could not produce an insurance certificate, the landlord decided to pull the plug and closed the gallery, in other words kill the part of the show.
The landlord happens to be real estate man Mark Levine, and he opted to win the argument instead of going with the community flow.
He is said to be buying properties in SN, and while the rules are on his side, the community missed out.
Back to the start: Unchained was the theme of the sold out Art Fashion on Wednesday.
It attempted to merge the fashion world with a contemporary event, the recent apology for slavery and its horrors, delivered by the Dutch King Willem-Alexander, in Amsterdam, at the country’s annual commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Suriname and Caribbean colonies. The formal apologize for the Netherland’s role in the Caribbean slave trade, was delivered 160 years since the abolition, and 150 years since the abolition enforcement. Artists and designers loosely commented on the subject, some more that other, resulting in a creative fusion and a delightful street party, under the stars.
Don’t miss next year. Buy a ticket in advance.
The opening act, a fashion interpretation by flamboyant know-it-all, artist Maria Teresa Madariaga, LIBERA, was worth the trip to San Nicholas.
MT assembled about 35 models from all walks of life mostly business and civic organizations, loaded them with imaginative, colorful costumes and accessories, and sent them down the runway to parade themselves in all their over-the-top glory.
MT must have raided her famous closet for the show, because if was full of surprises.
Every woman walking down the catwalk had a unique, complex and layered ensemble, imaginative and unique, befitting her unchained, free spirit.
Congratulation MT, who is a free spirit, herself.
We haven’t seen your stuff for years, oversize handbags, yes, but not ensembles, and it was worth waiting for.
I first met MT when she was renovating the 1796, Fort Zoutman, in Oranjestad, decades ago. She’s always been outspoken and artistic, elective and outrageous. Her home in Sombre is a kind of museum, displaying ethnographic, archeological, and cultural-historical object. She loves junk, she says, and is an obsessive collector. I suspect all the stuff seen on the catwalk found its place of honor back home, at the end of the show. MT is Cuban born, but enjoys deep Aruban blood lines. She was schooled in Puerto Rico and the Art School of South Carolina, and enjoys being an authority on practically, everything, here.
Artist Vanessa Paulina showed her collection inspired by a rebellious female slave Virginia. Virgina has been an inspiration to Vanessa on many levels for many years and I saw that Vanessa was joyful at the end of her show, it really pleased her to be able to tell that true story, on a fashion platform.
Alas, a lingering cold inspired me to drive myself home to bed, early in the evening and I regret missing the all-black collection of Ronchi De Cuba, later in the evening, among other collections of local and visiting designers.
ELITE always does a great job on production! Thank you, Ritz Carlton Aruba, for cleaning up the street ahead of the event, contributing to an exceptional experience.
