Here's more proof that Williamsport's art scene is becoming a force to be reckoned with: Artists who have just heard of the Pajama Factory, 1307 Park Ave., and have never been to Williamsport are getting excited about showing here. Artist Christina Varga, who owns the Varga Gallery in Woodstock, New York, is thrilled about her upcoming First Friday exhibition at the factory.
"It sounds like the building is an amazing space with lots of people coming through on First Fridays," Varga said.
Originally from Milwaukee, Varga has one of those resumes that seems infinite, but one of the main highlights is that she had an oil painting triptych - featuring life-size figures of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammed - on display at the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, from October 2007 to September 2008.
"I sent some work out there ... and heard back two years later," Varga said. "They were putting together the 13th mega exhibit - they have one a year - called 'All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism.' I love that my work is affiliated with that show."
The story behind the work is long and trippy, but it's one worth telling: "My brother, my mother, her husband and I went for 3 weeks to Peru, landed in Lima [and] flew to Cuzco," Varga said. "My mother got a brain aneurysm and had to be emergency helicoptered to Miami and my brother and I ended up together on this three-week trip throughout Peru. At Macchu Picchu, we climbed the closed-cuz-it-was-washed-out-but-we-didn't-know-it Inca Trail and scrambled to the top of this mountain in the Andes in time for the sun to be almost going down with giant clouds washing over us. That night, in the only hotel, on top of the mountain, the voice of James Earl Jones spoke to me through the visage of our Quechua Guide, Benjamin, from a pink cloud in the sky of my dreams - with a big pink ocean lapping against the shore in this somewhat sunset-y scene. And in this dream, I was told the work I do has to have a message."
The artwork that Varga will have on display at the factory is risque to say the least -it includes many images of naked women from men's magazines - but it has a message, according to Varga.
"For a very long time I drew and painted loads of Marys," Varga said. "They evolved to the VARGA Girl series and the VARGA Girls are a facet of the whole perspective. My VARGA Girls are made using images from vintage magazines - mostly porn, [but] always pre-'80s and that means natural! The '70s were a beautiful time where pop culture was focused on peace and love and nature and harmony. The VARGA Girls are liberating and very current and what I would like to see our society embrace - as icons go."
Varga said she started her own gallery because "The whole scene was rather snobbish and I figured I'd be better off opening my own spot, having a studio, showing artists that I liked and specializing in a certain flavor of artist - self-taught, outsider, emerging, visionary."
There is never a shortage of artists who want to display their work, Varga said, and she used to have an "open-door" policy for her gallery, displaying the work of many artists. Recently, however, she has been more selective.
"In this, my eighth year of operation, I have decided to curate very carefully what hangs on the walls in my gallery in order to draw an audience that enjoys and desires the same kind of artwork as I do ... and the right artists."
One of these artists is Luke Yocum, who recently has taken the Williamsport art scene by storm, and thus the connection to our city was made - with help from Casey Gleghorn and John Yogodzinski of the Graphic Hive.
"I really like the guys at the Graphic Hive," Varga said. "I always like to encourage people to get involved in the arts and Casey and John seem to be on the right track. I have never been to Williamsport and always want to travel and meet people, especially if it's through an art exhibition. My goal is to build bridges and connections between art enclaves and invite people to come and experience ours here in Woodstock."
At the moment, Varga is working on adding a fourth piece to her religious series.
"The fourth panel, which I call "Woman Clothed by the Sun," is somewhat a self-portrait, which feels a little strange on account of the fact that the other three panels are Jesus, Muhammed and Buddha, but is liberating because it contains the message of birth and rebirth and love not only for yourself, but for all things that come through you and issue forth from you."
