Fernando Varela
He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1951.
He has been based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic since 1975.
A versatile artist, he is also an intellectual, passionate about philosophy and music, present in his plastic creation. We could describe it as iconography, the works testifying to his faith and, in a broader sense, his deep convictions. Very soon, transcendence has acquired importance in its plastic expression, which is translated first, by a search for perfection, by a demanding aesthetic process and a “golden” balance even in asymmetry and linear impulses, since the inspiration of the sublime does not tolerate improvisation and laziness.
Uruguayan by birth and training, Dominican by marriage, a long and definitive stay, a total integration, he did not feel the pressure of a geographical identity, preferring to immerse himself in millennia of fervor and sacred words, belonging to the history of humanity. .
His works were never easily deciphered: if, like every artist, he likes a perceptive response from the first glance, he prefers that we read, think, meditate before his drawing, his painting and his sculpture. He is an archaeologist of art who, in the quarry of perenniality, breaks the volumes, recovers the forms - figures, abstractions or letters -, generally austeres the palette... although lately he varied ranges and tonal register. Now, this visual thinker ignores dogmatism and thematic confinement. He made a decisive turn, turning towards the Caribbean, its waves and its yawls, pictorially whispering that “the island isolates” and that life merges. death and migration…
And in his lyricist paintings – another investigation – we investigated the clamors of the trip. Recently, he stopped in the humid forest of our latitudes, he brought his capacity for expressive synthesis to the essential without anecdote: protecting man, nature, threatened species. Fernando Varela's career means an artistic commitment, both unalterable and in perpetual renewal.
Marianne de Tolentino
Individual expositions
2022
«Worlds – The transits of Fernando Varela» Retrospective Exhibition. – León Center – Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.
«Essays on Infinity»
Lucy García Contemporary Art – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2019
Form and Void 2013 – 2019 – Museum of the Americas – Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2018
Close – Oops – ASR Contemporary – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2016
Form and Void – ASR Contemporary – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2015
Recent Works – Museum of Modern Art – Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Sculptures and Drawings – Espacio 7 Gallery – La Romana, Dominican Republic
2014
Recent Works: Paintings and Drawings – Space 7 – La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Form and Void – ASR Contemporary – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2013
Origins and Primary Forms – Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2012
Origins and Primary Forms – Mayor's Gallery – Parallel Exp. XI Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador.
Origins and Primary Forms – Metropolitan Museum of Culture of Quito, Ecuador.
2011
Origins and Primary Forms – Museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art – MAAC – Guayaquil, Ecuador.
2009
Recent Works – The District & Co. – Santo Domingo, RD
2008
Fragile Dreams – Varelli, Contemporary Art – La Romana, RD
2007
Alternate Spaces – The District & Co. – Santo Domingo, RD
2006
The Quiet Word – National Museum of Visual Arts – Uruguay.
The Quiet Word – Varelli, Contemporary Art, La Romana, RD
2005
The Quiet Word – Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, RD
ARCO – Varelli, Contemporary Art – Madrid, Spain.
The Quiet Word – Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, RD
La Islaaisla – Varelli, Contemporary Art La Romana, RD
2004
Recent Works – Varelli, Contemporary Art – La Romana, RD
Curated Curator – Clark Center – Montreal, Canada.
La Islaaisla – Espacio Inter-peintures – Petionville, Haiti.
2003
La Islaaisla – Untitled Gallery – San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2002
Recent works – Contrast Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.
Curated Curator – Museum of Contemporary Art, MAC- San Juan, PR
The Journey – Lyle O. Reitzel Contemporary Art – Santo Domingo, RD
2001
Satie Suite – Chapel of Remedies – Santo Domingo, DR
Curated Curator – Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, RD
2000
Paintings and Drawings – Untitled Gallery – San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1999
The Magic of Fear – Cultural Center of Spain – Santo Domingo, DR
Recent Works – Larrama Contemporary Art – Santo Domingo, RD
1998
Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1997
Mac 2000 – Paris, France.
1996
Contrast/Fernet Gallery – Brussels, Belgium. Buchelhax Gallery – Silkeborg, Denmark.
Manif/96 – Ami Gallery – Soulel, Korea
1995
The Gallery – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Mac 2000 – Paris, France.
1994
Museum of Latin American Art, OAS- Washington, USA
Corinne Timsit International Galleries – Paris, France.
1993
Cagnes Museum – sur – Mer, France.
Altos de Chavón Foundation Gallery – La Romana, RD
1992
Corinne Timsit International Galleries – San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1991
Corinne Timsit International Galleries – Paris, France.
1990
Altos de Chavón Foundation Gallery, La Romana, RD
1989
Botello Gallery – Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Gallery – Santo Domingo, DR
1987
Altos de Chavón Foundation Gallery – La Romana, RD
1986
Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, DR
1983
Museum of Modern Art – Santo Domingo, DR
Caferelli Gallery – Santo Domingo, DR
