www.olgasinclair.com

SINCLAIR’S PAINTINGS

PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO FEELINGS

By: Carla Bianpoen
The Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Translation:

JAKARTA (JP): Almost two decades have elapsed since The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the International Women’s Year for integration of women in the development of nations, and in 1985 the forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women were adopted by 157 countries. Since then, women ‘s issues have been placed into the broader framework of development, and great strides have been made in the way women should perceive themselves.

Although important changes can be noted in the perception of women as individuals, their strength, and their immeasurable potential to work for development, the debate on their position in society continues, and women are often left wondering about their wishes as individuals and as mothers, wives, daughters or sisters.

It is this continuous struggle that appears to be haunting Olga Sinclair, who takes women as the focal point of her paintings. In an exhibition running through June 30 at the Spanish embassy, Panama-born Sinclair showed women as she wishes them to be; in perfect peace. The canvasses offer a field where women are free to follow their own wishes. "On my canvasses, they are fully emancipated, they can do whatever they want", says Sinclair.

Compassion is probably a major force in this painter whose natural empathy speaks in human communications. When Sinclair paints a woman, the woman becomes part of her. "I am like part of another woman inside me and I want to cry out", she says. Sinclair then cries out by giving the woman a respected and dignified place on canvas. The eyes either closed or sidewise, Sinclair’s characters speak from within. Having the eyes opened can work to very disturbing effect, discloses Sinclair. After all, what is really important is what is in the soul.

With a high degree of professionalism, Sinclair strives for simplicity and fluidity of line without actually drawing the line. "This I learned in Spain", she explained. When I studied drawing I was taught how to build up body without looking at lines", said the painter who once studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Madrid. "A good part of my art background is in Spain," she revealed.

Creating an intimate atmosphere by her treatment of light and shadow reminds one of the old masters of the 17^th century, but she exploits them in her own talented way. Leaving white spaces to allow a greater intensity of light, she balances the tensions of areas overcharged with color. The characters, suspended in time, gaze in ward. Of deep significance is Olga’s typical Spanish concern with the tragedy that may lie behind the appearances. The peaceful and harmonious appearances are not simply a rendering of the joys of domesticity. They may hide the frustrations of women between tradition and development.

Sometimes it is as if the act of painting becomes a double creation. As she constructs her painting, she also creates her own image, and probes into the depths of her own self.

Between dream and reality, Sinclair comes to terms with the hectic outside world through the brush. Her life, her world, starts when she is in her studio. "In my atelier nobody can disturb me. It’s my world, and my escape", she confided. Then she stars to live the life she wants for other women (and herself?). And her canvasses are then filled with simplified forms and gorgeous color-combinations, such as red with purple, blue and yellow, or pink, yellow, blue-green with shades of brown, light purple and a slice of white. Unusual, but highly eye catching, fascinating, and vibrating in a way that no viewer can escape. Viewing the exhibition of Sinclair’s paintings is like entering the ‘other word’ of women. Unlike exhibitions on women’s paintings in Jakarta, all shaped exclusively by male articulators of the outside forms, Sinclair’s display of women paintings provides insights to the feelings of women: sometimes melancholic, often retracting and tired, but always with a touch of peacefulness.

Sinclair is the daughter of Panama’s noted painter Alfredo Sinclair. Her talents in the arts emerged at a very young age. She was only fourteen when she joined an exhibition with professional painters. After her study at the Academy of Applied Arts in Madrid, she was heavily influenced by the Spanish painting tradition of that time. However, she never stops learning, without new experiences and new experiments, there is no creativity.

The style is truly, uniquely Olga Sinclair’s.

Her paintings have traveled the world ever since her first exhibition in 1971. "People just recognize me as a painter, not necessarily as a women painter she says referring to a universal measure of quality.

Her painting career does not prevent her from other activities. She was the cultural attaché for Panama in Bolivia, and will take up that position again when she moves to a country with an embassy of her country. Traveling a lot, the artist reveals that she also encounters many cultures, sometimes totally different from her own.

Art Review
	SINCLAIR’S PAINTINGS PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO FEELINGS By: Carla Bianpoen The Jakarta Post, Indonesia Translation: JAKARTA (JP): Almost two decades have elapsed since The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the International Women’s Year for integration of women in the development of nations, and in 1985 the forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women were adopted by 157 countries. Since then, women ‘s issues have been placed into the broader framework of development, and great strides have been made in the way women should perceive themselves. Although important changes can be noted in the perception of women as individuals, their strength, and their immeasurable potential to work for development, the debate on their position in society continues, and women are often left wondering about their wishes as individuals and as mothers, wives, daughters or sisters. It is this continuous struggle that appears to be haunting Olga Sinclair, who takes women as the focal point of her paintings. In an exhibition running through June 30 at the Spanish embassy, Panama-born Sinclair showed women as she wishes them to be; in perfect peace. The canvasses offer a field where women are free to follow their own wishes. "On my canvasses, they are fully emancipated, they can do whatever they want", says Sinclair. Compassion is probably a major force in this painter whose natural empathy speaks in human communications. When Sinclair paints a woman, the woman becomes part of her. "I am like part of another woman inside me and I want to cry out", she says. Sinclair then cries out by giving the woman a respected and dignified place on canvas. The eyes either closed or sidewise, Sinclair’s characters speak from within. Having the eyes opened can work to very disturbing effect, discloses Sinclair. After all, what is really important is what is in the soul. With a high degree of professionalism, Sinclair strives for simplicity and fluidity of line without actually drawing the line. "This I learned in Spain", she explained. When I studied drawing I was taught how to build up body without looking at lines", said the painter who once studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Madrid. "A good part of my art background is in Spain," she revealed. Creating an intimate atmosphere by her treatment of light and shadow reminds one of the old masters of the 17^th century, but she exploits them in her own talented way. Leaving white spaces to allow a greater intensity of light, she balances the tensions of areas overcharged with color. The characters, suspended in time, gaze in ward. Of deep significance is Olga’s typical Spanish concern with the tragedy that may lie behind the appearances. The peaceful and harmonious appearances are not simply a rendering of the joys of domesticity. They may hide the frustrations of women between tradition and development. Sometimes it is as if the act of painting becomes a double creation. As she constructs her painting, she also creates her own image, and probes into the depths of her own self. Between dream and reality, Sinclair comes to terms with the hectic outside world through the brush. Her life, her world, starts when she is in her studio. "In my atelier nobody can disturb me. It’s my world, and my escape", she confided. Then she stars to live the life she wants for other women (and herself?). And her canvasses are then filled with simplified forms and gorgeous color-combinations, such as red with purple, blue and yellow, or pink, yellow, blue-green with shades of brown, light purple and a slice of white. Unusual, but highly eye catching, fascinating, and vibrating in a way that no viewer can escape. Viewing the exhibition of Sinclair’s paintings is like entering the ‘other word’ of women. Unlike exhibitions on women’s paintings in Jakarta, all shaped exclusively by male articulators of the outside forms, Sinclair’s display of women paintings provides insights to the feelings of women: sometimes melancholic, often retracting and tired, but always with a touch of peacefulness. Sinclair is the daughter of Panama’s noted painter Alfredo Sinclair. Her talents in the arts emerged at a very young age. She was only fourteen when she joined an exhibition with professional painters. After her study at the Academy of Applied Arts in Madrid, she was heavily influenced by the Spanish painting tradition of that time. However, she never stops learning, without new experiences and new experiments, there is no creativity. The style is truly, uniquely Olga Sinclair’s. Her paintings have traveled the world ever since her first exhibition in 1971. "People just recognize me as a painter, not necessarily as a women painter she says referring to a universal measure of quality. Her painting career does not prevent her from other activities. She was the cultural attaché for Panama in Bolivia, and will take up that position again when she moves to a country with an embassy of her country. Traveling a lot, the artist reveals that she also encounters many cultures, sometimes totally different from her own.
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