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| KUAN YIN diosa de la misericordia © Susy Dembo |
"And, somehow, when you return to where you were born, there’s something, a smell, a sense, even if it was as bad as the Holocaust, that makes you feel that you belong to that place. I remembered the good and the bad things, but I liked the city. "S.D.
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| Susy Dembo, girl, in the ship Orbita, 1939: "Finally safe from the war" she wrote. |
Susy
Dembo, a Venezuelan artist born in Vienna, is part of that small constellation
of stars within plastic arts that has transcended the borders of Venezuela,
receiving awards such as the International Award for the Art of Incision in
Biella, Italy.
Her
second individual exhibition took place in Madrid in 1966 and since that
moment, her art hasn’t stopped circling the world: exhibitions in Paris, New
York, Washington, Berlín, Vienna, Rome, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Puerto Rico, Río de
Janeiro, Bogotá, Cali, Poland, England, Yugoslavia, Switzerland ... and of
course Venezuela.
Proudly
representing her adoptive country, she participated in biennials and
exhibitions in Switzerland, England, Germany, France, Poland, Colombia, Puerto Rico.
Susy Dembo, the multifaceted artist, never rests. In 2004, she published her
memoirs book "Golem of Prague", a wonderful story of a woman that
experienced human bestiality as a child but never lost her capacity to love.
Her
heart, tired from so much effort but full of youth and wishes, sometimes asks
for a break and that is the only reason why she hardly made any individual exhibitions
in recent years. But while resting, she doesn’t stop creating or learning new
techniques of creating prints, painting and collage. Her new paintings, which
appear along with this interview, are expected to be soon hanging in a gallery.
Susy ‘s public is also looking forward to it. Eagerly.
At
five years old, Susy Dembo had to leave her native Austria, due to the
rise of Nazism, which took away her country and nationality. She arrived in Bolivia, a country she loves
because it gave her back her humanity. She lived there until adolescence, and
then she settled in Venezuela and integrated so fully that while listening to
her talk, it is impossible to think that she is not from Caracas. That ability
to assimilate accents and cultures is reflected in her work and her life. In
Susy, the drama that split her childhood doesn’t show; she is cheerful,
restless, curious. Her work also has these qualities, combined with a touch of
magic and mystery.
Susy
Dembo started painting in 1960. Two years later she ventured into enamel. In
1972 she began to make prints, and in 1988 she started working with glass. Her
work, however, is one, and perhaps the
secret is that everything is done with the same passion and talent.
A
sunny morning, under the watchful eyes of her last paintings, we chatted at her
workshop in Prados del Este in Caracas, drinking Tibetan tea and eating
delicious Venezuelan cheeses.
- Susy, how
did you get started?
-
I started painting rocks in the sea, like all crazy girls at the club Puerto
Azul. The stones were very beautiful while rough at the same time, so I looked for
a workshop of art with enamel and found that of Francisco Porras; there I studied
when I had money and when I didn’t, I studied at the Free Art Workshop. I was a
good enameler and my work with enamel was liked very much. But then, impatience
led me in 1971, to study engraving at the University Simón Bolívar and with
Nena Palacios. I also studied with Luis Chacón and many years later with
Candido Millan, I learned glass techniques. But printing pretty much took
almost fifteen years of my life.
- Studying it or working
on it?
-
Both, because you can’t make prints without studying, since it is a perfect
chemistry technique. If you want absolute neatness and perfection, which took
me a lot to acquire, you have to do it by the book: with a press, an engraving
table, all the tools, water to soak in a tub, blotting paper and everything else.
That takes a lot of time.
- Fifteen years
dedicated to prints, where you gained great recognition. How was your
transition to painting?
-
Actually, I always painted. I studied with Francisco and Pilar Aranda, my
Spanish professors, and then I painted still life because I didn’t have any
knowledge to do anything else. They told me that still life wasn’t enough; they
saw the human figure in me. But I would not venture into this area, because it
was very difficult and I did not want to risk it. So I continued with enamel
and still life, landscapes of Ávila. But then I dedicated myself entirely to
printing and I no longer painted, nor enameled.
- You fell in love
with printing.
-
Yes, because it's alchemical, it’s magical, it’s dark and you have to work hard
in order to reach satisfaction and for me, it’s always very mysterious. It's
like working at a workshop in the sixteenth century.
- But you returned to
painting by creating spectacular golden women, adorned with stones and other
elements that you exhibited in 1995 at the French Alliance of Caracas creating
great impact. Where do these women come from?
-
From a trip I made to Egypt in 1990. Before leaving, I was already working with
gold colors, but while I was there and saw flat figures, those staring women, those
watchful pharaohs, I became fascinated and started painting these women. Egypt
inspired me, gave me the color, the frontal part of painting, because in Egypt,
figures are placed sideways and I loved that, so then I bought paintings, stones
there and worked not only in paintings but also doing many prints. And in 1998
I had the pleasure to exhibit them at the Print Biennial in Cairo.
- And I read in the reviews
that you had great success.
-
Yes, it was a very exciting moment in my life. It was the same with the paintings
because this type of work had never been seen in Caracas before. I’m not saying, of course, that I invented
them, that no one had painted something like this but these women came from
within, they were not copies of the Egyptian figures, they were just an
inspiration and when I showed them, people were amazed because it was a
different type of painting. Some of the paintings had light that spun when illuminated.
I thought I would to sell many, but it wasn’t so. The Ambassador of France, the Cultural
Attaché, the Director of the Alliance kindly purchased one painting, and sold
two or three more paintings. So I brought the rest of the paintings to my
workshop and the day I had finished packing them for storage, I received a call
from a collector and he bought the entire collection, fifteen paintings, a week
after the exhibition had finished.
- It was your highest
point as a painter; the successful printer
was also an exceptional painter.
-
But I did not feel comfortable with my technique. I acquired assurance after
1999, when for health reasons I had to stay in New York for seven weeks. Then I
found the shop of a teacher from MOMA, which rents space for working artists and
there I started to improve quickly with my painting skills, I noticed my
improvement every day because I painted with pleasure every day, eight to ten hours.
The atmosphere there is very rewarding; there are many artists, some very
renowned and nude models. Since then, every year I go to New York and spend two
months painting at the workshop. The teacher passes beside you and may make a
comment, either you accept it or not.
- What are you
working on now?
-
In a new series. I have twelve or thirteen paintings for the next exhibition
and I’m very excited about this series.
- Where did the
inspiration come from?
-
I always walk down the street with a notebook in hand. When something gets my
attention I write it down and once I get home, I start to paint from that
impression.
- In 1995 you had
your first solo exhibition in Vienna, invited by the Austrian government, which
also gave you back your nationality. How did you feel having an exposition in your
home country after being expelled from there by the Nazis?
-
Very happy. I am Jewish and the Austrian government decided to honor Jewish
Austrian artists whom had not be taken to concentration camps, but had to leave
Austria. It was a wonderful experience; people from schools came to ask me how I
did the prints, I was treated very well and sold everything. And somehow when
you return to where you were born, there is something, a smell, a sense, even
if it was bad like the Holocaust, it makes you feel that you belong to that
site. I remembered good and bad things, but I liked the city. They are
esoteric, the new generation is new age, they are wonderful, creative youths and
concerned about human rights.
- You made peace with
your country of origin.
-
I can’t forget. But I do not mind anymore. I have no anger. I don’t forget what
they did to me, but I feel good there. And they understand that I can’t forget.
I like music, art, their conversation. Now, when I see the concentration camps I
don’t like them.
- You lived in
Bolivia from seven to fourteen, what do you remember of that time?
- It was beautiful because I imagine it's
like living in Tibet, isolated by the altitude. We were very poor and perhaps because
of that, we so appreciated everything that Bolivia gave to us, which was also a
very poor country but had, like Venezuela, an amazing natural beauty and a breathtaking
change of atmosphere. There was enough food, there was the cinema every week,
but if you ask me how were my clothes, my answer would be humble, but
my house was beautiful because my father wanted to live well.
There
I started my relationship with painters, but I didn’t paint; I danced tap and
danced with the cholas, I liked indigenous music. My father and I used to go to
the top of the mountain with the Indians (men and women), and sometimes we
found archaeological pieces, but they were not looking for that, they went on a
spiritual quest that at the time I did not understand. But I loved entering the
houses of the indians and there never was a difference between them and us, despite
our blonde hair and blue eyes.
- Susy, have you ever
thought of creating a foundation that carries your name to preserve your work?
-
No, that would be for my daughters to do, if they want to. What I want is to
give my pieces to a foundation, but I'll wait until the Venezuelan crisis is
over, because during a crisis, you become very sentimental and suddenly you give
things to people that don’t know how to receive them. I want to donate all the
tools to make prints, enamel kilns, glass furnaces, paintings, work material,
for boys and girls from Venezuela that have no money to buy them.
- How are you feeling
right now with your artistic career?
-
Right now I feel this will be the best moment of my life. Painting isn’t easy,
but my pieces are flowing and I love what I do, I can spend hours here.
- Does a piece
require a specific amount of time?
-
Not for me. This one (points to a picture) took me three weeks. This other one
(points to another picture) took me five years and I never finished it. But
yesterday I saw the woman's eyes and felt that now I can finish it. I finish
one painting and immediately start another. But I can’t paint two pictures at
the same time.
- Did you ever imagine
you'd receive so much recognition for your work?
-
No. I did it because I loved it, but I never looked toward the future. I went day
to day. Until I had the opportunity to make my first exhibition. From that
moment I never stopped. I am very happy with the recognition and I have a saying:
An award is an award. It doesn’t matter if it's the first or third.
- Are you proud of
what you have accomplished?
-
I feel I could have done more. I should have
worked more and that’s what I'm doing now. Now I want to learn more about computers,
working with Photo Shop to incorporate it into my paintings. I am also studying
mythology and alchemy.
- You are still
hungry for knowledge.
-I
always am interested in everything.
- That's what keeps
you so young.
-
I'd say that's the only way ... to grow old well.
Susy Dembo laughs and
her little eyes sparkle like a happy child, her face lights up like a teenager.
So I think of her joy of living and her desire to continue learning will never
allow her to become old. No, Susy, you'll never be old. Although your walk
becomes slower due to illness, old age will never reach you. Years will pass by,
though, to the delight of everyone who has had the privilege to meet you.
© viviana marcela iriart, Caracas, July 2004
©
Translated from Spanish by Gabriel Santamaría. Contact:
Thank
you very much, Gabriel Santamaría, for your loving help.
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| Central Park, New York, 1980 |
Solo Exhibitions
1965 Gallery El Muro, Caracas, Venezuela.
1966
Gallery El Bosco, Madrid, Spain.
1968
Gallery and Tourism Office, of Venezuela New York. USA.
1973 Gallery Maison Bernard, Caracas, Venezuela.
1975 Gallery Maison Bernard, Caracas, Venezuela.
1977 Gallery Cruz del Sur, Caracas, Venezuela.
1979
Gallery Durban, Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
1980
Gallery at the New York Consulate, USA.
1982
Gallery Venezuela and Museum of Contemporary Art, Bogotá, Colombia.
1983
Portraits of Bolívar. Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela.
1988
The Occult in Art. Siete Siete Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela.
1989 Gravura. Venezuela Gallery, Gallery Botaforo. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1991 Museum of the Americas. Tracing the Other
OAS. Washington DC
Wie
Weit Ist 1995 Wien. Junge Kunst Werkstart Gallery Prieler Hoschek,
March,
Vienna, Austria.
1995
Behind the Magic Screen of Light, Caracas, Venezuela.
2004
Publishes the "Golem of Prague" Bookstore Buscón. Caracas, Venezuela
2011
Gallery Durbán: “Susy Dembo Prints and Painting ", Caracas.
2013
Museum Kern: "Susy Dembo and the Mysteries of Print", Caracas.
Group Exhibitions
1960-1965
Official Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas, Venezuela.
1965 Gallery El Techo de la Ballena, Caracas, Venezuela.
1972-1983
Hall Michelena. Valencia, Venezuela.
1977
Fourth Gallery. Rome, Italy.
1979
Hall of Fire Arts, Valencia. Venezuela.
1979 Gallery Nuevo
Espacio. Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1979
AVAP Exhibition, Caracas, Venezuela.
1985
Graph of Venezuela. Library of the Museum of Modern Art. Nueva York.
1987
Graph of Venezuela. Embassy of Venezuela in Paris, France.
1987 Graph of Venezuela, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Print Biennial 1989. San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto
Rico.
1992
Biennial prints of Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
1995 Biennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1995-2000
Various group exhibitions of graphics.
1998.
CAF. Latin America in a Footprint Andean
Development Corporation.
Caracas,
Venezuela
2000
Masks for a smile. Israelite Union of Caracas.
2003
First Exhibition of Hebraic Art. Auction. Caracas
2004
Hebraic Art Hall. Auction. Caracas
2003
Auction in aid of Cancer Research. Canadian Embassy.
Caracas
2004
Auction in aid of Cancer Research. Canadian Embassy.
Caracas
2004
Exhibition of engraving. Mexican Cultural Office. Washington DC
2004
Exhibition of miniatures TAGA Caracas, Venezuela
2004
Humboldt Association. Ist Weit Wie Wien. Caracas, Venezuela
2006
Center of Fine Arts. Printmaking Collective. Maracaibo,
Venezuela
2006 Hebraic Art Hall. Caracas, Venezuela
2008 Hebraic Art Hall. Caracas, Venezuela
Represented Venezuela in
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| Lo que amo © Susy Dembo |
1977
First National Exhibition of Prints, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1977
Latin American Print Biennial, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1978
August Hall, Museum of Colombian Contemporary Art in Bogotá,
Colombia.
1979 Venezuela at UNESCO, Paris, France.
1979
Graphic Biennial 1979, Poland.
1981
Fifth Latin American Print Biennial, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1981
Fourth Biennial of Graphic Arts, Cali, Colombia.
1982
World Print Show, Bedford. Yorkshire, England.
1982
Second Biennial of Latin American Engraving Arts, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1983
Sixth Print Biennial , San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1983
Fifteenth International Biennial of Graphic Art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
1984,
Intergraphic Berlin, Germany.
1985
Tenth International Triennial of Graphic Painting, Grenchen, Switzerland.
1985
Artists for Venezuela. Amnesty International. Text of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1985
VII Biennial of San Juan. Latin American and Caribbean Engraving, San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
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| Zagreb |
