Lake County artist Richard Vargas‘ unruffled demeanor serves him well in his capacity as both an artist and as a special education bus driver for Konocti Unified School District.
Vargas is one of 19 artists showing their work as part of the Raíces Hermosas exhibit at the Middletown Art Center.
The exhibit, creates connections between the Latinx community by bringing contemporary artists to the forefront to encourage conversations on the many and varied Latinx cultures.
“My art is my vision, my observation and meditation of the world around me,“ he said. ”I am curious about the narrative, the story and man’s quest to spiritual awakening. I want to explore the narrative of the past, present and future to try to understand the complexities of my own life and the duality of my own personal vision of the Mesoamerican sensibilism in America and finding the conflicting contradictions of the system.”
He has dedicated much of his 65 years to art, beginning around age seven while living in Orange County where he was born and raised in a blue-collar family. Vargas is Hispanic and was raised Catholic. He also attended Catholic schools.
He said there’s no one in his family who has any artistic attributes or desire to create art. He said his interest in art to began at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley where he excelled in the arts and began to understand it as a legitimate form of expression.
“I always was interested in making art as far as I can remember, even as a small child I was drawing and looking at art,” he said. “In grade school, I looked forward to the arts and crafts class. The teacher would show us how to make pictures using squares, circles, and triangles … I liked watching the romance between the paint and canvas which seemed very rewarding and satisfying.”
Growing up, he had an intense drive and curiosity to visit the local library, study art books and take in and appreciate the art that adorned the walls there.
“I wanted to be able to make things like that. I fell so in love with the process that I became intrigued with the act of painting, wanting to just paint for painting’s sake,” he said. “I have always been attracted to the creative and spiritual ways that I could express myself.“
In the oil-on-canvas paintings he is showing at the Middletown Art Center, much of the spirituality he is known for is portrayed along symbolism and religious overtones.
His painting called, “The Offer,” Vargas explains, “depict angels offering paradise, a baboon that rejects and refuses their offering, with man being the baboon aspect that consequently brings bitterness and disappointment in this spiritual disturbance.”
In his work entitled “Long Whispers of Silence,” depicts the guilt and greed of men in war and the atrocities of the world.
“It represents the weaknesses of men, the frail ending to their wickedness, and awaiting for the last summons,“ he said. ”Angel of death covered in the death shroud listens to their feeble confessions before their departure.”
On display at the exhibit are “Sojourning Up the Beautiful,” “Whispers of Silence,” “Dark Secrets” and “The Offer,” which range from 16 to 48 feet tall canvases.
His life through art
In 1980 and 1981, he studied painting for a year and a half through in France, Italy, Germany and England. It was here where he learned “the master’s painting techniques by copying the art that was there and I also learned restoration techniques.”
“The thing that I found the most interesting about going overseas at the time was how little I had known about painting,” he said. “While I was there, I learned a lot about discipline, human frailty, and the little bit of time that we have left in the world. Therefore, I dedicated myself to making art and making the best of it.”
At Cal State Fullerton, he majored in art and earned a degree in fine arts studio studies. From 2002-2006, he worked at Disneyland as a staff scenic painter and also refurbished older murals.
When it comes to his artist inspirations, “I would go with Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo because of their dreamlike sensibility. I like the masters, such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer.”
