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June 23, 2006
Coming out of Africa
Vamos exhibit displays beauty of Kenyan faces.
BAILA LAZARUS
It is clear from strolling through the new exhibit at the Zack
Gallery that George Vamos loved to draw. Though his artwork is not
highly refined, and there are many pieces that look almost amateurish,
there is something about the quality of the drawing that reveals
a love of his craft.
Add to that a love of the subjects of this exhibit – the people
of Kenya – and you get a display that elicits admiration more
for the thought behind the images than perhaps the images themselves.
It is clear that the faces of Kenya (the name given to the exhibit)
were truly a favorite subject in Vamos's work.
It is also clear that Vamos liked to experiment with different styles.
In this one room alone, there are pencil sketches, ink drawings
and watercolors, serious and playful paintings, literal and abstract.
Many of the pieces, such as "Lady in Black and White,"
"Young Graduate" and "Elongated Lady" have a
Picasso-esque feel to them, with eyes and noses askew, jutting from
the facial structure as if someone had been unsuccessful at putting
together a puzzle of the human face. My favorite of these is "Young
Graduate," a playful watercolor where the graduate's hair and
cap become one, forming a Roman colonnade, perhaps reflective of
institutions of higher learning. Least successful of these experimental
works is "Abstract Man with Fez." It has far less control
than Vamos's other drawings and seems more like the product of someone
on an acid trip than a disciplined painter.
"Solemn in Black and White" is the most accomplished of
the work on display. Reminiscent of a Japanese print, the detail
in the blouse and leaves and the way the work fills its canvas makes
this piece stand out above the rest.
Overall, the more literal sketches in pencil and ink are of particular
interest because they show how Vamos studied and captured facial
structure. Lines where he made a mistake or changed his mind and
took a different direction are left on the page, so art students
(and laypeople) can learn a lot about how to block and draw a human
face from simply looking closely at the marks.
The watercolor series along the east wall is not as impressive,
however. Watercolor is a very hard medium to master and, in many
of these paintings, the color is muddy and the features are very
cartoonish. Some exceptions to this are "Kikuju," "Mzee"
and "Young Graduate," but they succeed because of form,
not the added color.
It should be remembered that fine art was not Vamos's focus in life.
Born in Budapest in 1910, he studied architecture in his youth.
He eventually became a respected architect in Kenya, designing everything
from homes to hotels to office buildings, even working on a commission
for the Kenyan president. One of his projects there, the Fairview
Hotel, has been renovated numerous times over the years, but still
remains a well-known institution.
While he practised architecture for a living, his found what time
he could to practise artwork – mostly portraits and landscapes.
His wife, Soedi, though not with him in the 1940s, recalled how
in his later years, he would use anything as an artist's canvas.
"He used any type of piece of paper," she said at the
exhibit opening June 15. "I've even seen him paint on the back
of a blueprint."
It is the portraits of Kenyans that Vamos did while living in Africa
during the 1940s and 1950s that are on exhibit now. Many of the
local tribes are reflected in the different works, such as "Swahili"
and "Kikuju."
George Vamos passed away in 1999, but Soedi Vamos, with help from
son Geza, organized the exhibit in order to share her husband's
work.
Faces of Kenya is at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery until
July 9. Although the artwork is not for sale, Soedi Vamos will consider
selling a print if someone is particularly fond of a piece.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
illustrator living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.
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