Tag Archives: Canary Islands

7. Blue Hortensias-90x80 cm

Canary Islands to Amsterdam – New chapter in Sloten

I am now going to take you to the time span in which my parents moved from Canary Islands to Amsterdam. In essence from one homeland to the other and quite extreme in difference! They moved there in the middle of a heavy winter so it was a cold shock to him and I am sure it was because I remember visiting for the first time and when I got off the plane it was like I never knew what cold was before! My mother is dutch and so  this was very familiar to her. My father enjoyed very much being there as it is so rich in art culture. The museums and Dutch Masters impressed him very much. They first stayed with a friend Reine for a bit which was very nice; then they rented a place of a friend who was not there for about 6 months when they found another place in Sloten. This place was right in front of the river and it was very nice; I went to this place when I first visited them and took my then 1 year old daughter Alijah…it was so serene and nice to be there (of course anywhere with my parents is serene and nice ;)). They stayed there for another 6 months, in Amsterdam it is not easy to find a place that is permanent as they have a system in place for housing that can be time consuming and hard to get into. I want to show you some of the beauties he did there.

this he painted while staying with their friend Reineke

a painting of my mother

Here he is painting an interior of one of the beautiful places they stayed in Amsterdam

Finished interior

This painting of the Hortensias is so beautiful! I love it so much…the picture really does it no justice at all, so rich in color and vibrancy!

Birthday flowers for my mother as he always does for her :)

I actually have the top left one of the Japanese Garden in my room and I love it so much!

Here is one from the house they had by the river. This is the place where I visited with my then baby girl and it was lovely! You could walk out to the back patio and the river would be right there with plenty of ducks to feed.

This is a gorgeous still life; Catalog of Rijks Museum, with Adriaen Coorte on the cover.

Last but definitely not least a painting with a picture of my then baby Alijah, my music box and Maron’s reflection…This is mine as well and hangs in my living room…beautiful!

There is much more to tell my dear friends but I will keep it for the next chapter; until then be sure to check in with what is happening with my mother’s blog HERE!

 

LOVE & PEACE

10. Sosoles Artiga

Los Angeles Part 5- they go to Canary Islands and I stay…

This is the time when both of my parents went back to Spain, the Canary Islands to be exact and lived there for a while. My father wanted to go back home and be with his mother as she was not doing very well, so they did. I wanted to stay in LA and start a life of my own.

I will take you through some of the work he did while there, a lot of commissioned portraits were done, beautifully indeed.This is a painting that my father did of his brother; my uncle Pedro, by candle light…this was very specific as how he wanted to be remembered. He knew his time was close and even the look in his eye was important to him. Took several days to get it just right.  He was the youngest of the boys and an incredibly sweet person. He died of AIDS way too young (missing you)

brother & sister  (Commissioned)

Canary family (Commissioned)

Portrait (Commissioned) Another portrait (Commissioned)

I want you to note that all the above portraits I just showed you are done from pictures! The following portraits are done of people actually posing (which he prefers any day!)

Teresa Maderos; mother of Sonsoles Artiga(Commissioned)

A portrait of my brother. During this time is when my beloved Grandmother Margarita passed. My father was with her; as you know it was the main reason for them to go there. He took very tender care of her until the end. My father is very caring and has never been the type to care about the neatness of a situation…he gets his hands dirty for others without a second thought; I admire that about him, the unselfishness and detachment from what is considered beauty in the world. Needless to say this was a very sad time; you can feel the pain in this piece…

My mother and idol Willy :)

Portrait of Miguel (Commissioned)

Portrait if Sonsoles Artigas. She was Miss Spain in 1987 and now owns along with her brother Patxi a wonderful Spanish Restaurant in Canary Islands called Hacienda Artigas. (Commissioned)

Here he is doing what he loves :) I can see my beloved ham in the background…

Beautiful painting; you can see the light emanating and displaying the drawing of his home land.

Painting of their bedroom…I see a picture of me on the night stand…see it?

Sonsoles collection piece.

Painting of a letter from my uncle Diego. Now part of the collection of Douglas Bergeron & Vibeke Knudsen.

love this…very Canary!

Avocados and mint…collection of Dr. Momo

Flowers from Friends.

Vase

view from their terrace

 During this time I was in Los Angeles living on my own and starting the adult life venture…CLICK HERE to see what my mother writes about on her blog!

 

Until next time my dear friends, peace & love http://supermodelicons.com/vibeke-knudsen/2009/09/11/

1 cambridge studio 96

Los Angeles -Part 4. Cambridge St. and “La Corona Roja” exhibition

Now we go to a different part of this great city, Maron returns from the Canary Islands and we live in LA; Venice & Western on Cambridge…BEAUTIFUL big house, 2 stories and completely redone inside with dark wood floors and a piece we loved which was an old school white heavy double oven stove. So let’s take a short tour…

The studio

the downstairs living room.

This was the dining area…to the right you would be in the kitchen & to the left you had my mother’s studio; behind was the living room that you saw above, lovely.

Upstairs studio where Maron did his work, to the right was their bedroom and across the hall there was the main bathroom with a great cast iron tub…God I loved that house, if I could get it today! You can see on the easel the becoming of “The Shroud”

The Shroud. This painting he did for Piero Di Pasquale, a friend who was a reporter of RAI TV in Italy as he was doing a piece on the subject. This painting was amazing and is admired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portrait of Piero                                                    Portrait of Krista, his girlfriend and child actor

And their doggie…what a face!

Flowers for Piero

Also upon his return from Canary Islands he was invited to take part in a group exhibition in the museum of modern Art in Las Palmas; “La Corona Roja”, all about volcanoes. He himself did not go there but the painting was picked up  and later returned, then sold to Douglas Bergeron and Vibeke Knudsen here in LA.

I will show you some beauties that he did while in LA.

Apples

My Spider plant (Willy’s)

The Potatoes

Now I want to show you some things that have to do with the Volcano exhibition

Red Crown”

About the Volcano

The Cock’s crest, 1996 – Oil on Canvas

Here it is close up…it is so majestic!

Here is his info for the Museum…it summarizes what I have been telling you all in this blog ;)

Let’s go back to looking at some pieces while in LA…

Palm Tree LA

This painting was bought by Paula Abdul who my mother styled for some time…she was with Emilio Estevez. I recall meeting him once when they came to our house on Longridge, they were very nice.

The Blue Longridge. I of course love ANY knot he does and very much look forward to his limited edition prints on canvas he is working on…(YES!)

Well my dear friends we once more went on a trip through time and I was able to share the story and art of the unmistakable Maron, my father…until next time stay good!

Check out what my mother is doing during this time HERE

1 .book cover

Los Angeles – part 3 – Exhibition in Canary Islands…Maron’s homeland

MARON

“En 1995 fui a Las Palmas y expuse en la galeria Saro Leon, una de las mas prestigiosas galerias de las islas Canarias. Para eso tuve que viajar y llevar los cuadros de Los Angeles a Canarias pasando por Madrid, via Nueva York. El tema de la exposicion fue la serie de alfombras que empeze a pintar en Paris y continue haciendo durante toda la decada de los ochenta y parte de los noventa, esa exposicion era el resultado. Aunque tambien pinte muchos otros cuadros aparte de las alfombras, esta eran parte de una serie sobre el mismo tema. Se podria preguntar porque pintar una alfombra en el suelo y practicamente nada mas, la razon es precisamente para ponerlas en primer plano y no en el fondo como decoracion, y porque son asi algo relegadas cuando en realidad tienen mucho que contar en la historia de la pintura en general, no solo en el arte occidental. Ahora me gustaria narrar un poco la historia, les aseguro que fue una verdadera aventura. Cuando fui de Los Angeles a esas islas en medio del Atlantico cerca de la costa Sahariana, mi querida tierra Canaria, no conocia ni siquiera habia hablado nunca con Saro Leon, solo contaba con la recomendacion de Quico Rivas, importante comisario de exposiciones, que me aseguraba que Saro esta de acuerdo en hacer la exposicion de las Alfombras. Esto lo digo porque aparte de mi nadie sabia nada y si se los dijera tampoco me iban a creer, asi que trate de mantener el proyecto lo mas discretamente posible, solo despues de hablar son Saro, fijado la fecha y empezado los preparativos que fui poniendo los mis mas allegados al corriente. Pero hantes de hablar con Saro pasaron casi dos meses de suspense durante los cuales estuve a punto de perder la la cabeza, pero toda esa historia ya esta escrita y se puede leer en un libro que hice con todas las cartas que le escribia a Willy en Los Angeles y eran diarias. El libro se llama: Viaje a Canarias. Solo decir que gracias a Quico Rivas pude realizar esa exposicion en mi tierra, 30 años despues de Nueva York y para mi mas importante personalmente. Sobre todo por mi madre que ya enferma fue a la galeria donde le hice los honores a puerta cerrada. A Quico Rivas lo conoci en Madrid cuando fui a ver la exposicion homenaje a Alberto Greco, al que conoci en Canarias en el 64 cuando vino invitado por Juan de Prat-Gay. Juan colaboro con Quico en esa importante exposicion que presento en Argentina y Valencia antes de Madrid. Probablemente Juan le hablo favorablemente de mi, y en cierta ocasion Willy invito a Quico a venir a ver mis cuadros, entonces me encargo un retrato de su novia. Por cuestiones de salud Quico se fue a vivir en la isla de La Palma, fue asi que la idea de promover mi exposicion en Canarias surgio. Ahora le paso la batuta a mi hija Alegria. Un saludo a todos;”

English translation

Now in Los Angeles and it was 1995; I was to go do an exhibition in my native land in one of the most prestigious galleries of Canary Islands, in Galeria Saro Leon. For this I had to take the paintings (no easy feat) from Los Angeles to Canary Islands passing by Madrid, via New York. The subject for the exhibition was the series of rugs which I started painting in Paris and continued to do through the 80’s and part of the 90’s, that exhibition was the result. Although I painted many other paintings besides the rugs, these were part of the series of this subject. You could ask, why paint a rug on the floor and practically nothing else; and precisely it is to put them on the forefront and not in the background like decoration, relegated when in reality they have a lot to tell in the history of painting in general, not only in the Occidental art. Now I would like to narrate the story, I can assure you it truly was an adventure. When I went from Los Angeles to the middle of the Atlantic close the Saharan Coast, my beloved Canary land, I did not know nor did I ever speak with Saro Leon; I only had the recommendation of Quico Rivas, important exhibition organizer, who assured me that Saro was on board of the exhibition of the rugs. I tell this because other than myself no one knew anything, and no one would believe me if I told them; so I kept this project very discreet. Only after speaking with Saro, finalizing the date and starting preparations is when I brought those closest to me up to date. But before speaking with Saro 2 moths went by if intense suspense during which time I almost lost my mind, that story has been written in a book of all the diary style letters I wrote to Willy from Canary Islands; The book is called “Viaje a Canarias”

Thanks to Quico Rivas I could come to have an exhibition in my land, 30 years after New York and for me more important personally. Most of all for my already ill mother who I gave special honors before the doors opened to the public. I met Quico Rivas when in Madrid while going to the homage exhibit to Alberto Greco, who I met in Canary in ’64 when he was invited by Juan de Prat-Gay. Juan collaborated with Quico on that important exhibition presented in Argentina & Valencia before Madrid. Juan probably spoke favorably of me to him and at some point Willy invited Quico to come see my work, so he asked me to do a portrait of his girlfriend. Due to his health he went to stay in the island La Palma in Canary. That is how doing the exhibit in Canary Islands came about.

Now I want to briefly tell you about this specific piece which was to be the star of the exhibition and my father spent a year working on…”The Rapture”

this masterpiece never made it to its destination…yes you read correctly, it was stolen! somewhere between Los Angeles and Canary Islands it was taken…heartbreaking.

Invitation to Saro Leon -back

Invitation to Saro Leon – front

Newspaper

The Royal Couple – I recall thsi one very well…beautiful piece, majestic.

Used Carpet

He & Saro.

Very cool newspaper article; reads: A Rug for three (Salvador Maron, Saro Leon & Kiko Rivas)

Commissioned portrait of Saro’s family members

Saro Leon portrait commissioned by her husband who shed a tear when he saw it…

Padre Claret. This is the most prominent religious figure in the Canary Islands. They actually asked for 2 of this portrait as they wanted to hang one in a school so he painted this amazing piece twice exactly the same.

My cousin Angela

my cousin Amado

You can also see what is happening during this time for his other half WIlly if you click HERE

For now my dear friends I keep you in suspense until the next episode…LOVE!