Oreste Del Rio Sandoval (second right), Ambassador of Panama to Qatar; Francisco Navarro (left), Deputy Head of Mission; Mariame Farqane (second left), CEO of Pallas Arts, and Alvaro Mejia Perez, COO of Pallas Arts, during the press conference to launch t
Internationally acclaimed Panamanian artist Olga Sinclair’s paintings are prominently featured at Art Acquainted which is the inaugural exhibition of Pallas Arts-Qatar’s first registered arts brokerage launched last month.
“We are glad to have for the second time in Qatar master artist Olga Sinclair who is probably the most recognised painter in Panama and one of the most important artists in Latin America. She was recognised by Forbes Magazine in Latin America as one of the most powerful women artists in the whole continent,” Panama’s Ambassador to Qatar, Oreste Del Rio Sandoval, told The Peninsula at the exhibition’s launch at Katara Cultural Village Building 18 yesterday.
It was in 2017 when Olga’s works first featured in an exhibition in Doha during the Latin American Festival in Katara which also showcased other artists from Latin American countries, said Sandoval.
Asked to comment on the relations between Panama and Qatar in the field of culture, the Ambassador said, “We have been keen on keeping in touch with countries that focus on cultural development and we find Qatar the best partner to develop together art and artists in our own countries. We are lucky to be in Qatar - a country that takes so much care of art, evident in the presence of public art everywhere from the airport to parks to streets and even the desert.”
Daughter of celebrated artist Alfredo Sinclair, Olga started her journey in art production at a young age under the tutelage of her father participating for the first time in a group exhibition of professional artists at age 14.
She took up art courses in Madrid and London and has had over 40 solo exhibitions and 200 collective exhibitions spanning continents from Asia to Europe and Americas.
She is also active in social work as chair of Olga Sinclair Foundation whose vision is to hone children to be full human beings through contact with art. In 2014, she organised a painting activity involving 5,084 children to set the Guinness World Record for the most artists contributing to the same painting simultaneously.
As education is at the core of Pallas Arts mission, co-founder and CEO Mariame Farqane announced they will soon have a project with Olga for children in Doha.
“We in Pallas Arts have been working hard in educating children through art and I’m happy to announce that we are going to organize workshop with Olga for around 1,000 kids in Doha in the very near future. Olga has been hosting workshops for children in Latin America and the US aimed at providing them sensibility toward art,” said Farqane.
Four paintings created by Olga Sinclair between 1996 to 2012 are on show at the exhibition.
“These are amazing pieces because they show the evolution of the artist’s style from figurative art to abstract art. Her artworks always talk to people spiritually,” said Farqane, lauding the increasing value of Sinclair’s work in the art market year after year. Other artists whose works are on show at the exhibition are A. Benazzouz, Abi Green, Ignacio Chillon, Cyril Kongo, Feisal Al Hajri, Lulu M, Misha Milovanovich, Pinuccio Sciola, Oscar Mantilla and Yousef Bahzad.
