This painting stands at the cradle of my becoming as an artist. It is inspired by a painting of Dali (The Last Supper) and contains all the main actors that have got a heavy influence upon the way I developed my personal style and philosophy. In the center figures Leonardo da Vinci, which I consider … Continue reading Last Supper on Utila
Twilight Utila
Twilight Utila is in the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. Its boundaries are those of imagination and it lies behind a door that you unlock with a key of magic. What is the Utila Twilight … Continue reading Twilight Utila
Relaxing at Utila’s South Shore
The South shore of Utila is separated by a small channel and a lagoon from the main part of the island. Not astonishingly it's the residency of Utila's most recluse and privacy minded expats. It has however a popular beach bar called Neptune's that can only be reached by boat from the main part of … Continue reading Relaxing at Utila’s South Shore
Fish chasing a pelican in the Bay of Utila
The Island of Utila has a quality that forces the attentive observer sometimes to reconsider the natural order of things. It might sound a little blasé, but wealth and education don't carry here the same weight as it does in most other places. It's an island that, apart from his tropical climate and beautiful nature, … Continue reading Fish chasing a pelican in the Bay of Utila
Utila’s Galactic Nomads
Utila is a travel destination that lies a little of the beaten path. Hence it's inhabited and visited by a very eclectic crowd of pirates, outlaws, artists, digital nomads, and a couple of aliens who shipwrecked and just washed up here.
Party cave on Utila
La Cueva is a little drinking hole on Utila that is popular among the young backpackers because it's situated right at the ferry dock in the middle of town, stays open till late night, their pricing is among the most affordable on the Island, and their music and bohemian ambiance is much loved by the … Continue reading Party cave on Utila
Nocturne
Featuring the work of 32 artists from all over the globe, "Nocturne" explores the theme of darkness from a variety of perspectives--the darkness of night, the dark night of the soul, and nocturnal landscapes both real and imaginary. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EXHIBITION
Epiphany at Utila’s Pumpkin Hill Beach
An Epiphany is a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience. This post's illustration features a beach that, from the position of our house, is located at the other side of the Island. Which is of course … Continue reading Epiphany at Utila’s Pumpkin Hill Beach
Utila’s Bandu Beach at Sunset
Bandu beach is just a two minutes walk away from our house and is our preferable spot to watch sunset. Like everywhere in the tropics, sunset is proceeding fast: between dusk and the moment the sun disappears behind the horizon there lies an approximative 30 minutes timespan. That is however compensated by the fact that … Continue reading Utila’s Bandu Beach at Sunset
Welcome to Utila
This post is the first in a series of 13 impressions of my winter residency Utila. You can find the Island of Utila in the Caribbean. It consists of a small coral reef that has roughly about 5,000 inhabitants, of which about half of them are expatriates. It forms part of the Bay Islands, an … Continue reading Welcome to Utila
Stop digging when the location is wrong
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? During my long career as a professional soldier I've learned the hard way that it's no use to make a hole deeper when it's located at the wrong place. It equals to digging your own grave. That lesson can be expanded to … Continue reading Stop digging when the location is wrong
Totalism triumphs where democracy has failed.
The first group of 2,000 suspected gang members in El Salvador have been moved to a huge new prison, the centrepiece of President Nayib Bukele's self-declared war on crime. Tens of thousands of suspected gangsters have been rounded up in the country under a state of emergency following a spike in murders and other violent … Continue reading Totalism triumphs where democracy has failed.
Water
What is your favorite drink? Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula H2O. It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a solvent). It is vital for all known … Continue reading Water
The Connection between Writing and Painting
The featuring image of this post carries the images of Borges and Dali. While Borges was a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature, Dali was was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work . I almost forgot it, but I started this page a couple of … Continue reading The Connection between Writing and Painting
About Secrecy in Art
Those who keep a close eye on my blog, will probably have noticed that not much was happening on my website. That is because I’m secretly working on the concept of an installation that involves a huge grant and is also some new territory for my artistic activities. The curious among your may already wrinkle … Continue reading About Secrecy in Art
The Zone
This post was supposed to be about a group exposition in Athens in which I'm participating. Unfortunately the pictures of the opening aren't forthcoming. Instead I've decided to post one of my recent works that I've introduced for the 2023 Biennial in London. This painting brings together a formal investigation into color and line, with … Continue reading The Zone
A blogging start in the new year.
Dear family, friends, and followers, I must admit that the passing of the old year into the new one was marked by a somewhat gloomy mood on my side. I drafted an inventory of the last year and albeit it was a rather productive year in terms of creative work, it left me with a … Continue reading A blogging start in the new year.
The anti-climax
It's not uncommon that people at the end of a calendar year draft an inventory of what they have done with those 365 past days. Now that we've reached that period of the year when people and business alike are making up their balances, I'm looking back with mixed feelings. Although the past year has … Continue reading The anti-climax
Poetry in the Dark
Poetry in the Dark is a painting that wants to express the experience of listening to poetry with closed eyes and should not be confused with a focus upon dark poetry. Dark poetry wants to capture sorrow, pain, the fragility of life, grief, death, anxiety, rage, despair, loneliness, jealousy, doubt, heartbreak, and betrayal while I … Continue reading Poetry in the Dark
Painting in the Dark
Between the 4th and the 6th of November 2022 I attended a conference called Waving, organized by the department of intermedia art of the Art Academy in Krakow. In the fringes of this conference one of the organizers of the conference ran a small experiment called "Breath, the combination of breath and drawing with the … Continue reading Painting in the Dark
Shaharee Vyaas 