Laura Pretto Vargas

A critique written from

Red alert! There are pictures that give you a feeling of peace and inner peace, and there are pictures where you immediately feel the fire that burned in the artists when they created them. I would like to discuss such a picture of the artist @lauraprettovargas today. This picture does not only show fire, it is fire and not only on a level of meaning. Even the selection of the colors inspires, because they create a very special feeling. It's the feeling of heat. The feeling of passion. The feeling of burning an all-consuming fire. It is a picture that is already storming at the viewer through its colors and that is remarkable.
It is also remarkable what you can see as a motive and what you are ready to see with your own thoughts and interpretations regarding the not only depicted but also displayed. Who does not immediately notice Sauron's eye from the visually stunning film adaptation of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" by @peter_jackson, which threatens to sweep over a world of good and evil? But there is more and the question, what am I as a viewer willing to see on and in this picture, is as burning as the colors of the picture. I don't want to hide the fact that I saw something very feminine in this picture. Something beautiful that shouldn't be hurt and should always be loved. Something that deserves sensual passion and should be foreign to violence.
This positive, which is expressed through painting, is countered by the use of cool sterile silver wire, which can be understood as a valuable contribution to social debates such as #metoo or #NoFGM. But even beyond this approach, the interpretation of an open wound is obvious, a wound that must still be very fresh in view of the bright colors and their liveliness. It lives and works so that it must be prevented from expanding by wires. She is strong and she has only just started to fight the constricting and restricting circumstances and she is determined to win this fight. Will she actually consume everything and be stronger? Will there be salvation through healing or through the cleansing power of purgatory? Red alert!