Every Instant of Sandra Beraha´s Life is Art. .................................................
CASA DE LA CULTURA BENJAMÍN CARRIÓN QUITO ECUADOR
Presidency
“ … because this cannot be an impressionist critique nor something of the like, but a feathery love letter, words that without pretending to, have made their way among Sandra’s harmonic, moving nature. Between those flowers, almost metaphysical, that are born and keep growing from the artist’s trembling heart, from a fervent, perhaps nervous, spatula full of rigor, from a mathematical movement – which I would like to call maniac – from where chromatic light is displayed and fills the atmosphere and the compulsive sight of the watcher, from serenity, from the spiritual peace that one feels at the end of the journey, when we arrive to our garden, to our loved one and stretch out in our favorite corner an ambiguous, mysterious and furtive happiness.
And that is how Sandra Beraha irradiates her light (not the acrylics or the spatula, mere instruments). It is the light of overflown, unlimited, euphoric passion for life, for its existential pirouettes. There, in those paintings (of a balance that, I don’t know why, I feel the need to describe as chaotic, perhaps because of my mood), I find the essential questions, doubt and passion, faith and mystical and mythic embossment. Such marvelous and persistent, risky way of searching. Searching for what? That which perhaps doesn’t exist or exists elsewhere. The flower of saudade, the golden salamander that sometimes is a wink and others a tear …”
Raúl Pérez Torres
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I took a breath of the richness of Sandra Beraha’s interior world present in her paintings. The power of her colors reaches inside of me and remains there soaked, as a spot that enlightens the cave of far away memoirs. The passion in her traces spreads in my spirit and fills me with an energy capable of hanging like a butterfly flapping enfolded in my nostalgias. The mystery of those wells of light visible behind the voluptuous emergence of the foliage feeds the obstinate storm of dreams. My amazement in front of the energy of the canvases communicates me with the magical intensity of the woman who created them – Sandra is her work, a flashing universe of worlds enriched with her artistic soul.
Raúl Vallejo Writer Ministro de Educación
................................................. Sandra Beraha’s Marvelous Ecuador 2001
One of the advantages of being born in this nation for Sandra Beraha, was the possibility of being surrounded by wondrous nature.
Juan Ortiz Director of Culture Central Bank of Ecuador
One of the advantages for Sandra Beraha of being born in this “Wonderful Ecuador”, as she named the exhibit, was the possibility of being surrounded by privileged nature and integrate herself to it through long family traveling which, as a surprising game, some kind of a roller coaster, took her from the Sierra, to the Oriente, and the Coast. After that, by fusing stages, she continued threading this story of love in different times, places, and with all the materials she could find: wool, flour, wood, paper, glass, spices, and color pencils.
It is not at all surprising that while Sandy watched the snow fall from her home in Boston and her daughters slept, her nostalgia drew geometrical Cotopaxi’s and waves behind the beaches on every paper she had near, even in her precious cooking recipes.
Since her return to Quito, homecoming, she started one of the most difficult journeys – that of choosing among one of the multiple phases of her creative personality, the one which permitted her to shape everything she had observed, evoked, felt. And she elected colors and canvases with unique passion.
HER PAINTINGS ARE FULL OF LIGHT AND EVOKE A PASSAGE IN EVERY SPECTATOR’S LIFE.
By learning in solitude, freely testing, feeling, and perceiving, she has shared her creations with us through her hospitality, her collective exhibitions, murals and particularly, her individual exhibits – “La Danza de los Brujos”, 1993, where she listened to the murmurs of the Pichincha volcano with astonishing anticipation: “Templanza”, 1998, where she taught us how to receive the “warrior” inside each of us; and “Marvelous Ecuador”, 1999-2001, where she gifted us with a feast of color and light so we recall, particularly in the ominous times Ecuador is undergoing, the power of senses and dreams.
Sandra´s approach to her themes is all but conflictive or anguished. Her style is expressed through the bloom of color. She discovers interior sound, nature’s music, and makes her own sensations and personal experience vibrate in unison in her works.
The definition of Sandra´s technique has been attempted as a taste for impressionism, given the role of light on the scene, not so much a search for the essence of things but spontaneous works, and this may exactly be it. But this is another not sought, magical, coincidence of which Sandra´s life is full.
But let’s not loose ourselves rummaging around protocol, but rather express our admiration for a person whose tenacity has allowed her, without escaping shortcuts, to return to being herself and precisely to her indefatigable search for the essence of things. If it is about finding a designation, I would say Sandra Beraha paints the light through her own light.
To introduce this exhibit moves me, a fact full of affection and gratitude for life, for the life of a struggling, sensitive, and generous friend who, with her art, achieves, besides everything said above, admiration.
This artist has dived in the sea, in high plateau flowers, she has kissed violets and spines, she has blown on dandelions, dressed herself with palm leaves, fallen in love on the way to Quevedo, listened to the silence of snow, and burned the jungle with fire, and, like a bee, she has seen the most beautiful colors, she has taken the sweetest and most pleasant part and has shared them with us in this exhibit.
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Beraha is now as well an internationally published poet as well contributing to Musicians and Writters around the world.
Every Instant of Sandra Beraha´s Life is Art.
.................................................. EXHIBITS
PERMANENT FINE ART EXHIBITS
Studio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
FINE ART PAINTINGS:
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITS
2007: Light, Awakening the Senses Joseph Thomas Galleries White Plains, New York U.S.A
2006: “Olivia” Acrylic Paintings on Canvas and Pigment Paintings Octava de Corpus Quito-Ecuador America del Sur
2001: “Maravilloso Ecuador” II Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Sala de Arte Contemporáneo. Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
1999: “Maravilloso Ecuador” I Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Studio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
1998: “Templanza” Inks and Watercolors Galería González-Guzmán Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
1993: “La Danza de los Brujos” Dry Pastels Galería Dewyst-Endara Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
1988: “La Transformación”, Inks and Watercolors Estudio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITS
2007- 2008: The Hang Up Gallery Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Neenah, Wisconsin,USA
2005: Galería Centro Cultural Itchimbía “Verdes Vientos, Verdes Ramas” Acrylic Paintings on Canvas and Pigment Painting over Acrylic Painting on Canvas Fundación Ecominga Quito-Ecuador
2004: Red Nose Productions Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Louisville, Colorado, USA
2003: Art Encounter Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2002: Galeria Gonzalez-Guzman Inks and Watercolors Quito-Ecuador
1997: Sala de Arte Contemporáneo Pastels Paintings Quito-Ecuador
1994: Galería CDX Pastel Paintings Quito-Ecuador
ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY:
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBIT
2005: En el País de los Sueños Artistic Photography, Pigment Prints Studio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITS
2005: La Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana Ambato-Ecuador América del Sur
VIRTUAL EXHIBITS, FINE ART PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
2004- 2007: www.artwanted.com/sandraberaha
2007: www.queenofcolors.deviantart.com
2002- 2003 www.picassomio.com
2003: www.photobox.com
2002-2005: www.shuttercity.com
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BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
2007 HOSTOS REVIEW, TIME AND THE WORDS, LITERATURA Y CULTURA JUDÍA LATINOAMERICANA CONTEMPORÁNEA SANDRA´S POETRY PUBLISHED. GUEST EDITOR, STEVEN A. SADOW NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR EDITOR, ISAAC GOLDEMBERG A PUBLICATION OF THE LATIN AMERICAN WRITERS INSTITUTE
1972 SABA POETRY COLEGIO AMERICANO NEWSPAPER
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PROJECT FOR THE FUTURE:
7 CREATIVE COOK BOOKS, COOKING IN THE ALTITUDE
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MURALS
“Bendición” Nueva Sede de la Comunidad Judía-Ecuatoriana Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
“El Árbol de la Puerta” Studio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
“La Casa” Studio de Sandra Beraha Quito-Ecuador América del Sur
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Dedicated To The Paintings:
...porque esta no puede ser una crítica impresionista ni algo que se le parezca, sino una levísima carta de amor, palabras que sin quererlo ya se han ido metiendo entre esa naturaleza armónica, conmovedora de Sandra, entre esas flores casi metafísicas que van naciendo y creciendo desde el corazón estremecido de la artista, desde una espátula ferviente, quizá nerviosa, pero llena de rigor, de ese movimiento matemático (quisiera decir maniático) de donde se desprende una luz, una cromática, que empieza a llenar el ambiente y el ojo compulsivo del mirón, de esa serenidad, de ese descanso espiritual, que uno siente al fin de la jornada, cuando llega a su jardín, a la persona amada, y estrecha allí, en ese rincón preferido, al pececillo ambiguo, misterioso y furtivo de la felicidad. Es que Sandra Beraha, va sacando la luz (no el acrílico ni la espátula, meros instrumentos) luz de una pasión desbordada, ilimitada, eufórica, por la vida, por su pirueta existencial. Allí, en esos cuadros (de un equilibrio que no sé por qué), se me antoja decir, caótico, quizá por mi estado de ánimo) encuentro las preguntas esenciales, la duda y la pasión, la fé y la impronta mística y mítica, esa maravillosa y persistente, arriesgada, manera de buscar ¿De buscar qué? Eso, lo que quizá no existe, o existe en otra parte, esa flor de la saudade, esa lagartija dorada que a veces es un guiño y a veces una lágrima...
Raúl Pérez Torres
Presidente de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana Marzo, 2001
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He respirado la riqueza del mundo interior que está presente en los cuadros de Sandra Beraha. La fuerza de sus colores me llega adentro y ahí queda impregnada como una marca que alumbra la cueva de memorias lejanas. La pasión de sus trazos contagia mi espíritu y me llena de una energía capaz de permanecer como el aleteo de una mariposa encerrada en mis nostalgias. El misterio de esos pozos de luz que se vislumbran tras la voluptuosa emergencia de la hojarasca alimenta la pertinaz garúa de los sueños. El asombro frente a la energía del lienzo me comunica con la intensidad mágica de la mujer creadora: Sandra es su obra, un fulgurante universo de mundos enriquecidos con su alma de artista.
Raúl Vallejo
Escritor
Mayo, 2001
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The Impressionist of the XXI Century
...I am transported to receive and I am returned to deliver.
Sandra Beraha paints the light through her own light. Berahas work gifts us with great intensity Light!
It´s infinite movement trespasses space through color... presence, poems, symphonies of the great concert called Life! She Brings all the Beyonds.
Each one of her works makes us transcend our own sight they make us dream, sigh, vibrate! Her surrender is full, absolute, categorical and sober. Sandra transmits intense energies from innocent joy to the deepest thoughts.
With uninterrupted devotion and discipline Sandra, who was born in 1958 in Quito Ecuador, has been producing since the age of 4. In 1988 the artist premiered "La Transformación" Transformation , exhibiting privately her collection of watercolors paintings.
"La Danza de los Brujos " - The Dance of The Sorcerers in 1993, at DeWyst-Endara Gallery, in Quito-Ecuador exhibited her collection of pastel drawings, which were painted in a time of utter silence, exposing the sensuality of nature that encompasses her vision of the Other World. She called this a Magic time.
In 1998, Templanza, Harmony , a work of mental introspection, Trascending Time, Trascending Minds, with absolute dominion of the line, total control of the uncontrollable spirit, created in the inks, watercolors, pastels, and acrylics, showed at González-Guzmán Gallery.
"Maravilloso Ecuador" Marvelous Ecuador , would bring to us her explosion into the canvases, painting over 700 paintings. The first part of this collection of acrylic paintings were exhibited and sold out in February of 2001, being presented at "La Sala de Arte Contemporanéo", in Quito- Ecuador.
The United States would follow for her International exhibits. Las Vegas, Nevada at Art Encounter 2003, ; Boulder, Colorado 2003-2004; Neenah, Wisconsin at The Hang Up Gallery 2007
Collective Exhibits as well as Private Exhibits.
At her Studio in Quito Ecuador, Permanent Exhibit.
Her Art work continues with the devotion that is her spirit bringing to us an entire new journey.
Her Photography starts at early age, showing her fruits 6 years ago. A digital camera would appear in the scene of her canvases, with the camera in her hands it was just another brush and palette for her, producing passionately all the art that she presents now through Photography, developing and evolving through and through and through.
Sandra Beraha develops a new technique, painting digitally in her photography, presenting the Collection of KA, Abstract Paintings, Limited Editions (5) printed in Pigment Prints by Felipe Fried in Quito Ecuador, with the outmost of excellence to the world of the Arts.
From her Photography she leaps into Design and Abstractions, Concerts of untirrupted Art!
Paradises, Music, Quantum, Mítica, Mística, Metafísica... Ancestral Knowledge
Beraha is now an internationally published poet as well contributing to Musicians and Writters around the world.
www.artwanted.com/sandraberaha
www.queenofcolors.deviantart.com
www.josephthomasgalleries.com
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