Contemporary Art
www.artofdiorvargas.com

Dior Vargas was born in Havana Cuba of Hungarian, Italian parents in 1930. His father was renown architect in Cuba, designing many of the classic buildings in downtown Havana. At the age of four he left Cuba to move with his parents to Hawaii. His father had found employment there, designing a railroad for a Sugar Plantation. His family made many trips to South Florida. Cuba was forbidden destination because of the U.S. Embargo.

In the early 70's he returned to Hawaii finding work on the set of Hawaii-Five-O. It was there he met the famous Japanese Batik Painter, Takeo Nakamura. Batik painting is extremely difficult to master. A style of painting using links on rice paper that originated in Japan. These techniques are traditional and only passed on from generation to generation.

Nakamura accepted Dior as his student. They spent six years together, four of them in Japan. Dior learned all the ancient techniques from Batik's most famous master painter Takeo Nakamura. Dior became so adept at this difficult painting technique, that he quickly rose to international prominence. His paintings have been collected by the Sultan of Brunei, Cher, Princess Diana, Sean Connery, Angie Dickenson, Rockefeller, A. Koshogi, Jackeline Kennedy Onassis, and others.

Dior became involved in the entertainment industry and moved from Hawaii to the Los Angeles area to be close to the movie industry. He found an apartment in Long Beach, California. It was here that he met and developed a close relationship with Sumi Fujamoto. Sumi is owner of Lyons Art Supply store and is considered one of the best art framers in California. Sumi Framed most of Dior's early work.

Dior's paintings are untypically large. He painted his epic pieces on wood covered with rice paper in the ancient Japanese style. His early work is unusual because he batiked the frames of his paintings, thus making the frame a part of the artwork.

In need of storage Dior shipped a number of his original 1970's paintings from Florida to Lyons Art Supply in Long Beach, CA. Sumi stored them for Dior and they have remained with Sumi since then.

Dior is often confused with his cousin, Alberto Varga, the famous Playboy Pin Up Artist from Columbia. The two were gifted artists. However, their subjects and techniques are quite different. Both are deceased now, Dior dying in 2009 from unknown causes and Albert in 1982.

Source: www.artofdiorvargas.com ...

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