Carlos Vega Carlos Vega
(b. Melilla, Spain 1963)
Lives and works in New York, NY
Lauris Nobilis, 2012, engraving on graphite-treated paper with digital print
Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman
Nature is the foundation of everything I do, because I find nature’s creation, like the human body, is a vocabulary for my communication. So, yes, I love nature; nature is fundamental to my work. . . As an artist, I’m here to make the invisible visible. —Carlos Vega
Carlos Vega’s interest in history, especially civil rights in America, the macro and micro, and organic time magically unfolds in the print Laurus Nobilis, especially in juxtaposition to his bas-relief painting Just Discovered. Vega has long been fascinated with trees, interested in nature but more profoundly for the metaphor and symbolism of being rooted, the family tree, of genealogy, of belonging and in homage. From the laurel branches etched into the graphite-treated paper (echoing the 3D process in the lead painting in 2D) are heads and figures of women drawn from a variety of sources, including stamps, comics, the media, and religious materials, all under the mantle “Votes for Women.” Among them are iconic Suffragists, Saints, and Indigenous Martyrs, and individuals ranging from Mother Theresa, Queen Victoria, Oprah, Marilyn Monroe, Hillary Clinton, and Amelia Earhart, to recent activist Malala Yousafzai. It includes fictional women and characters such as Wonder Woman, Dorothy Gale, and Marge Simpson to major icons of art history like the Migrant Mother by Dorthea Lange, one of Modigliani’s muses, to Frida Kahlo herself, all embraced within this Mediterranean evergreen, in grey scale. Vega honors women and the 19th amendment as triumphant and victorious as if he has crowned them with the laurel wreath of victory. As much of Vega’s work does, this piece shares his interest in humanity, enlightenment, and equity that resonates in our current moment. This work looms large as we are approaching 100 years of the 19th Amendment, and especially following the elections of 2016, girls’ right to education, the #MeToo movement, the reckoning of women standing up against predatory abuse, and as women’s rights are threatened.