The New Alberto Vargas

Bettie Page - Bettie Page painting by Olivia De Berardinis
@hcromer (2709)
United States
May 9, 2007 2:36pm CST
I don't know if any of you are familiar with the old Vargas art work, there used to be one Vargas Pin Up piece in each issue of Playboy, but that stopped a while ago. Now there's a new artist named Olivia De Berardinis who does pictures almost identical to those of Vargas. Have any of you heard of her? What do you think of her work? Do you think that she should get her own style or do you think it's great that she's breathing new life into Vargas' style?
1 response
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
18 May 07
Technically, that's a bit better than Vargas, who I've often thought was a bit limited by the mediums of the time. This is actually a rather better done version of some familiar styles, probably means she hasn't fully developed her own style yet. The probability is that like all artists she'll develop anyway. That's a particularly pernickety form of work, and the airbrush effect can drive anyone up any number of walls. She's obviously fluent at it, so I'd say she will build on this. When it's a familiar method, it becomes a lot easier, and you can do more. Vargas was always plainly trying to go beyond the rendition of his work. He was a "perfectionist" in a meaningful sense of the word. One of his greatest characteristics was he was that much better than anyone else using that technique. I think she's succeeded. Some vindication for Vargas, anyway.