Location: Canada
Luis Jacinto Argumedes was born in Panama City, Republic of Panama. Lives in Montreal, Canada, since 1990. He studied art at the National School of Fine Arts of Panama (Escuela Nacional de Artes Plàsticas, 1985) and completed a BFA at Concordia University in Montreal (1999) with a Major in painting and drawing. He also studied ceramics at Bonsecours Ceramic Center of Old Montreal in 1995. He has showed his artwork in both solo and group exhibitions in Panama, Canada, the United States and France. Some of them are 'Obra Reciente' (Galeria Anonimous, Panama City, 1994); 'Le Premier Salon de L'Amérique Latine en France' (Espace Champerret, Paris, 1994); 'Caribbean Realities, Toots and Routes' (Museum of the Americas, South Carolina, USA, 2003); 'Las Americas, Six regards sur le Continent Américain' (Festival Latinarte, Maison d'Italie, Montreal, Canada, 2012); 'Art of the Americas' (Ottawa City Hall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2018), Etc. His paintings are mostly produced with acrylics on canvas and his drawings, made with ink on handmade paper; he also does water colours on hand papers. His artwork is inspired by nature with a huge amount of symbolism in which women, horses, trees, fruits mix with one another and with the landscape or seascape to create a visual 'poem'.
I am an eternal dreamer… especially in painting. I find refuge in painting to escape from the daily reality of being a simple payer of taxes. Therefore I compose what I call my “optimistic dreams'' on canvas or paper. These dreams are populated by imaginary women, fantastic horses, colourful trees, generous fruits and tropical landscapes.
My painting is symbolic. Woman becomes there, very often, the beach, the mountain, the wind; other times she’s hope, patience, or, simply, life. Horses are the male force in my work and they represent time, freedom or my desire of going beyond. My fruits are full with humanity and with them I speak about myself or about the generosity of Mother Nature. Trees are my `elder brothers' and I pay to them a special homage in my work; I like a lot to highlight the close relation that exists between them and us, humans: after all, it is thanks to trees that we all breathe. In other words, in each painting I try to create a visual poem with the elements of life I love the most.
To carry out my dreams on canvas I have chosen acrylics, and on paper I prefer watercolour and ink. Richness of color is vital in my paintings as it connects me directly with my Latin American origins; and, sometimes, I add some textures to the painting surface by mixing sawdust or fabrics with acrylic pigments and mediums, just to break the flatness of the bi-dimensional support. I enjoy as well bringing my creativity into the art of printing, especially the silkscreen process, in which I draw directly over the screen to create more and more visual poems. Ceramics is another artistic practice in which I connect with art and nature. I do ceramic sculpture with the same ambition of creating good news for the eye and soul. In clay I pay tribute to the beauty of the human body, which I think is the center of the Universe.
My biggest aim as an artist is touching the heart of the spectators, by sharing with them my own heart and my humble way of seeing and loving life.
Oil pastels on Strathmore Paper, 11" x 14"
“Guardians of the sun and water melons”
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 38" x 30"; 2014
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 36" x 48"; 2011. Availabe.
“The moon between day and night”
(Diptych) Acrylics on canvas, 29" x 20"; 2017. Available
Acrylics on canvas; 45" x 28"; 2009. Available.
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 36" x 24"; 1993; Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 28" x 28";
Acrylics on canvas; 28" x 32"; 2005. Available
Acrylics on canvas; 28.5" x 22"; 1987. Available.
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 36" x 48"; 2016. Available
“Door and window towards dreams”
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 35" x 25"; 1993. Available
“Landscape with window, clouds and water melons”
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 48" x 38"; 2016. Available.
“Flight of the night over a sleeping city”
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 32" x 48"; 2015. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 36" x 24"; 2016. Available
“Violeta on the beach balcony”
Acrylics on canvas; 20" x 24"; 2016. Available.
“There's a path between the two of us”
Acrylics on canvas; 48" x 36"; 2017. Available.
Acrylics and sawdust on canvas; 48" x 26"; 1993. Available.
“Two neighbours at the gate of night time”
Acrylics on canvas; 20" x 24"; 2914. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 36" x 48"; 2017. Available
Acrylics on canvas; 48" x 36"; 2017. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 36" x 48"; 2017. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 48" x 36"; 2017. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 48" x 36"; 2017. Available.
“The secret of the three horizons”
Acrylics on canvas; 48" x 36"; 2017. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 39" x 39"; 2015. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 50 cm x 70 cm; 2020.
“Day and night on the same beach”
Acrylics on canvas; 24" x 20"; 2011. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 20" x 24"; 2002. Available
Acrylics and cotton fabric on canvas; 20" x 24"; 2002. Available
Acrylics on canvas; 24" x 20"; 2002. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 19" x 19'; 1998. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 20" x 24"; 2008. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 24" x 24"; 2003. Available.
Acrylics on canvas; 14" x 18"; 2011. Available.
“Diptych of the big water melon”
Acrylics on canvas; 32" x 20" (two cnavases of 16" x 20"; 2015. Available.