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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Heaven is a Place on Earth

Nov 18–25, 2021
31 Howard Street, New York, NY 10013, United States

The Magical Realist movement in Latin American literature saw fantastical elements placed within mundane daily life. One thinks of the sorcery in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, or Clara’s supernatural abilities in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, or the alchemy in novels by Borges and Vargas Llosa. Taking inspiration from that movement and those novelists, the Colombian artist Camila Varon paints realist spaces that hum with the metaphysical. Vibrant colors transform distorted landscapes. A lampshade doubles as a mountain. Heaven and earth intertwine. In this pop-up gallery, organized by the Spanish curator Andrea Torriglia, Varon’s drawings and paintings transport the viewer into a different realm. The show will be up for a week only, so don’t miss it. —E.C.

Camila Varon, Untitled, 2021. Courtesy of Vaandart, New York.