As you may already know (and if you don’t then where the hell were you?) on June 26th Vancouver was host of the Cheaper Show , a very successful one-night art show that featured 200 international artists.
During the show I got to meet one of the artists, a girl molded by different landscapes, cultures and languages. Meet Sara Araujo
Sara, born in a Venezuelan household, is originally from L.A. but raised in Montreal. This rich mix of cultures sparked the inspiration for many of her paintings. Sara and I had coffee and we talked about her present and a bit of her future.
The first thing I asked Sara was “Ok, honestly, why Vancouver?” to which she answered without hesitation “Well…it was either here or London, England, but lets face it, Vancouver is cooler and a bit cheaper than England haha”
The Cheaper Show was something she didn’t have in her “Van city to-do” list. Really? why not? ” Oh come on, me? Sarah? I won’t make it in” and I am happy to say that she was terribly wrong. Not only did she make it in, but also got complimented by well established artists – “One of the best things that happened to me was to get complimented by one of the organizers of the Cheaper Show, he actually said that it’s because of young talent like myself that the show exists, how awesome!! “ And yes indeed, I would crawl into a ball and cry of happiness if I got this sort of compliment.
Sara has the right attitude to make Vancouver her launching base. At the moment she is using all of her energy to create new contacts and get her art noticed. She hasn’t painted in almost 3 months and she is more than ready to get back to it – “Every time I finish a painting I put it away for 3 to 6 months and I don’t think about it at all. After this time I come back and I open it to see if I still like it.You need to divorce yourself from your work to get some perspective you know?”
One of the sincerest lines that Sara said to me was the way she feels about her art being sold – “When I sell my art I feel I am giving away a part of me. I treat my pieces like family; I want them to find a nice home with good people that will take care of them. At the same time I don’t want to know who took them or where they are, otherwise I will start obsessing about it and try to visit them all the time”
Honestly, this talk with Sara was so enjoyable (unlike talking about our brand new tax in British Columbia). She even told me about her evening plans – “Grocery shopping, cooking a 3 course meal for my friend and go to my usual Sunday Burlesque show” Now THIS is what I call a Sunday evening, not just some lame Golden Girls re-runs and frozen yogurt treats.
We finished off the evening talking about her next step – “My next step?…hmm… well I am about to create a new series. The 1st series I made was based on places, this next one will be about in between spaces. I’m not too confident right now to have my own show though I don’t know wether it would be well recieved. Right now I am looking more for group shows. It will be a while until I think I am mature enough to have a solo exhibition, but I really look forward to it”
Thank you Sara!
Gbox