Now on view at Underline Gallery as part of our "The Good American" exhibition are two works by Colombian/ French American artist Claudia Vargas entitled Retirement and Shopping I. Through her signature crude, stick figure drawings, Vargas confronts loaded issues such as consumerism and war with an unmitigated sense of expressiveness. Both part of her Consumer series, these works examine our national fixation on the accumulation of material goods and the desensitization that results from mindless consumption. According to the artist, "We have banalized consumption in our society and little consciousness remains about how “the object” has invaded our lives and consumed much of our time, visual and auditory space, guiding many of our exchanges with each other and nature."

Vargas received her MFA from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris where she studied for six years. She has been actively involved in international residencies, having completed a one month residency in Tibet at the studio of Master Tsering Wangchok and a two month residency at The Cholamandal Artists' Colony in India. Claudia Vargas' work has been written about in Cambia 16, New York Magazine, and The American Journal of Germany. An interview with Louise Bourgeois discussing Claudia's work was included in "La Rivière Gentille," a film by Brigitte Cornand. Her works are included in the collections of The W. Pincus, J. Peabody, and La Fondation Salomon pour l'Art Contemporain. Solo exhibition venues include La Maison de l'Amerique Latine, Galerie A.S in Knokke le Zoute, De Fabriek in Eindhoven and the Durst Organization in New York.  Group exhibition highlights include "Polarities" curated by the late Willoughby Sharp at the Durst Organization in New York, Musee des Beaux Arts de Caen and ART/MA in Budapest.