Willa opens 'New Works' exhibition

Artist WillaVasquez returns with a new solo exhibition at the Fine Art Gallery this evening with the official opening of ‘New Works’. The seven years since her last solo exhibition has seen the artist take a new direction and develop a new style.

“I am at an age where I have painted hundreds of paintings, a retrospective would not be out of the question at this stage. But ‘New Works’ simply implies just that, new works, new style, and even a new me,” she tells me.

Much of what will be on show – there are 24 works in all – is interwoven with the old and new Willa – where her always strong essence of colour remains. But different... vibrant in a new way.

“This style is a compilation of previous works, it is a style that has developed naturally keeping certain elements that are characteristic of my art; brushstroke, dedication to still life, attention to detail and clean lines,” she says.

And yet there is a new boldness in her work which presents the viewer with a new direction. Fans of her work will see the Venice influence of the past few years.

And she readily admits Venice has been a great influence.

“It was there that I was inspired to paint glass, from my almost surrealist Murano bottles, and chandeliers with swaying arms, I passed on to (still on the subject of glass) blown up Art Deco scent bottles, with vivid colors and geometric lines, leaning on the abstract, but at the same time detailed and structured, with strong use of highlights, that are reminiscent of my earlier work of chinaware. My new style does away with detail, but at the same time I feel is both bold and stylized, with a palette that as you rightly say is colorful but substantially toned down.”

She describes this latest work as both fresh and personal.

New Works opens to the public tomorrow and will remain on display until Friday 27 May.