Contemporary Art

Omar de Leon was born in 1939 and raised in Nicaragua.
His studies included nine years at the "Escuela de Balles Artes", under the guidance of its accomplished director, Don Rodrigo Penalba.

In 1970 de Leon founded a museum in Managua, called the Museo-Galeria 904. His own financial contribution and the generous cooperation and participation of leading artists insured its success. The rapidly growing collections represented the arts of Nicaragua from pre-Hispanic times to the present, and was considered to be one of the most complete collections in the country. The disastrous earthquake of December 1972 inflicted some damage, but many of the treasures were stolen or vandalized with only about 20% recovery. Omar's studio which was part of the museum was also vandalized and ransacked, the theft resulted in the loss of irreplaceable objects and documentation related to his artistic career.

Omar de Leon has received critical acclaim at every step of his career, and wherever he has exhibited in both Europe and the Americas. His works are housed at the Museum of Latin American Contemporary Art in Washington, at the Pence Museum of Puerto Rico and at the Pan American Museum Foundation in California. De Leon's paintings and drawings may be found in major private collections in both hemispheres. In 1982 one of Omar's paintings was reproduced in the form of a Unicef Stamp, part of the Unicef Flag Stamp Program.

Omar's early inspiration were the frescos from Pompei, he observed the use of cross-hatching and applied this to this love of the impressionist school. The crosshatching created an illusion similar to pointillism, but combined with Omar's layering and scoring technique the resulting works can be viewed as contemporary, yet still containing elements of impressionism.

Omar uses brush and knife, oil and wax on canvas. The initial idea is placed with crayola on iesso, dark to shadow, cool to hot. Omar then lays beeswax over the first transparent color and begins to score the pigment. The first layer dries in 24 hours, the next layer is an opposite color, and so it follows, cool to hot, transparent to opaque. Omar scores through with pressure or little pressure, depending on the angle and power he gives exposure to one or another of the color layers, the angle reflects the light in a controlled manner. After 15 to 20 layers, and three to four weeks, this sophisticated and delicate structure is complete. The results are dazzling yet subtle, three dimensional in effect. The light seems to move like sunlight on water, and within this beautiful framework we see Omar's love for his country and its people reflected in sensuous fluid forms. ...

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