The vibrant colors and strong strokes are the most characteristic elements of the works that make up the exhibition ‘Harmony in discord: dance of shapes and colors in the earthly garden’ by the Panamanian artist Sari Holland.
The exhibition is free until July 11 at the National Bank House Museum. One of the central themes of the exhibition is the duality of the human being, manifested in the title, because according to the artist they are the different experiences that the human being goes through.
It is so that the audience, Holland added, “also felt what we all experienced; There are harmonious moments that we live as human beings, at the end of the day we emerge from chaos and once again have harmony in our lives. It’s like the cycle of life. Not everything is always perfect. One can live with both things: chaos and harmony.”
The first exhibition that Sari Holland did was at the age of 23 when she was finishing university. At that time her strokes were figurative, dedicated to human forms, and later she leaned towards the elements of nature, a theme that currently predominates in her works.
Holland commented on this, saying that he likes to have nature as a source of inspiration because he has always liked to be in contact with it. “When I walk, the leaves, the flowers, the colors of nature draw my attention, and above all, observing Panama. If it is the rain that falls on the ground, he observed the repetition of the precipitation on the leaves.”
“My basis and the inspiration for my works has always been nature. I always try to look for natural light, even at night I look for a lamp to find the light. I am guided by those tones that come out and the shapes that catch my attention,” she detailed during an interview with The Star of Panama.
Another characteristic of ‘Harmony in discord: dance of shapes and colors in the earthly garden’ is that the viewer will be able to see many movements and color contrasts. Holland explained that he has always managed the moves, even before he went to college. “I like the use of strong colors. I have always handled contrasts, to a certain extent they are a bit risky.”
Although the aforementioned, Holland clarified, will depend on the mood she has, since humor led her to create more monochromatic works. “I chose the color palette depending on how I was feeling at that moment (…) You see a lot of strength and aggression in ‘Dog Walker’, you see that: it was the blue contrast in the back against the yellows, orange, fuchsia, turquoise ”.
Most of the works were created during the pandemic, but he did several shortly before the epidemiological emergency was declared. “The works were a total method of escape. He said that if I didn’t paint, I would go crazy. It made me anxious to go out with the mask, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. One of the works I sold is called ‘Oxígeno’.
In the pandemic, Holland needed that contact with nature. “During the pandemic I lived in a small apartment. We couldn’t go out. There he began the study of the environment. Not being able to have contact with nature, it was a necessity to have it in my living room through my works.”
Sari Holland painted other pieces during the protests against the mining contract between the State and Minera Panamá. The works represent strength, but violence is nowhere to be found, she stressed.
“I felt at times that I had to get out certain emotions that I was experiencing. One of the strongest ones is ‘Victory (October 23)’, which is based on all the protests. This situation affected me a lot. First, because I saw my daughter outside protesting. I couldn’t say anything to him, because you have to fight for what you want. But she was scared when we saw the things that were happening.”
“I was happy to see it, but at the same time I felt sad for what the young people were going through. It was a level of frustration of the new generations. She made me happy, at my age, to be able to see that young people were very willing to fight. And I named it ‘The Victory (October 23)’ for that very reason; At the end of the day, they won.”
It is a very educated, very passionate and idealistic generation. “The victory (October 23)’ is dedicated to all those who went out to fight. It was a cry of the youth. While he painted, he played the song Patria by Rubén Blades. I can’t run through the streets anymore. It was a very sad moment for Panama, but at the end of the fight, they won.”
Sari Holland’s works focus on nature, movement, contrast and the chromatic strength of foliage. She received classes from an early age by teacher Antonio Madrid at the Art and Culture Center of the Ministry of Education. Her high school education had an emphasis on art at Balboa High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Texas Kingsville campus. She has a master’s degree in educational psychology from Framingham State University, Massachusetts.
