Like her art, Vanessa Aves is a woman of deep complexity. One of her standout achievements to date is an autobiography she’s written entitled “Pendulum” filled with diverse artwork that delves into her life—both as an artist, and someone who strives to live a fully productive and happy life each day while battling the effects of manic-depression.
Vanessa’s contemporary American paintings explore elements of color and movement. By pouring different inks onto plastic sheets of paper, manipulating them with watercolor and spraying water atop it all to create puddles, Vanessa is able to create a very different look and feel to her artwork.
“Looking deeper into the lighter aspects of my personality has been a fun and liberating experience,” Vanessa said.
“To an extent, all artists are tortured by their gifts and drive to create what is in their souls. I am always delightfully surprised by what I find.”
Under the Sea caught my attention right away. The way the colors meld with one another in pools and bubbly formations creates such a depth that I think finely represents the weight and pressure of the crushing ocean.
In this painting, black is a prominent color, and I love that Vanessa always adds in that dark element because it contradicts the neon colors and blasts their brightness further off the page. It reminds me that in the darkest of times, we can find beauty and light that make us think and feel differently than we ever have before.
By layering the colors upon one another, it creates a limitless feel, as if we could delve deeper into the water and swim forever, discovering more of life’s—and the world’s—exquisiteness with each twist and turn.
Cat’s Eye Nebula contains about 10x the energy and otherworldly power. . . This ink and colored pencil artwork is truly astounding. It appears as if the very nebula is exploding into new star systems or even galaxies of their own!
Blinding light and dense matter discharge from the center of the nebula, furiously entering outer space with charisma and style. Blue and black splotches around the nebula point the way outwardly to infinite space and time, and each of the ink splotches remind me of tiny pupils—millions of all knowing eyes that see everything and are omnipotent.
All the etched scribbles of black ink surrounding the cat’s eye in a frantic manner depict epic chaos afoot in this particular atmosphere. I absolutely love it!
Lastly, Untitled 5 below contains neutral, earthy colors instead of the bright colors of its predecessors. With the solid black lines acting as dividers to each particular section, it almost reminds me of stained glass if not for the pandemonium of colors fighting for their own space in the background.
Vanessa sees green ivy taking over the side of a building. To me, this painting is much more abstract, with nothing familiar meeting my glance except the black outline of a penguin with his back to us, little beak sticking out to the right side of his silhouette. Can you see him?
The next thing that catches my eye are streaks of red making an appearance here and there, adding unexpected thrill and a passionate flair to the painting.
Although I can only choose three works of art to display, Shattering Threw Glass is also a personal favorite of mine because it appears as if that very action is happening. Be sure to check out Vanessa’s extensive collection of paintings, drawings, portraits and more on her website.
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