THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606160013
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 99 lines
The best-in-show winner of the 41st Boardwalk Art Show sat across from his still-life painting display Saturday, trying to explain why the pears and mangoes he paints are like people.
``They happen to be fruits, but I think that's an accident,'' said Gustavo Castillo, eyes smiling behind dark sunglasses. ``It's really like painting people.''
His fruit has personality, and those fruits relate to one another in his watercolors, he said.
The Florida painter learned Friday night that he had taken the top prize at the Boardwalk, which continues today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. along the Oceanfront. Winners were announced at an artists party at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, the show's sponsor.
The $5,000 award is a purchase prize, which means the winning work - a 40- by 60-inch watercolor on paper titled ``Blue Wall'' and featuring pears and mangoes - becomes part of the arts center's permanent collection.
The Boardwalk honor moved him deeply, Castillo said.
``This is my proudest award - maybe because we're so far from home. When you make it this far from home . . .
``How many miles from my hometown in Colombia?!''
Castillo, 39, shook his head at the very thought.
His wife, Carmen Lagos, occupied the adjacent tent with her own watercolors. She pulled out the July 1995 issue of The Artist's Magazine, opening it to a six-page spread on Castillo.
``Look at this,'' she said, beaming. ``We get this magazine in Colombia 14 years ago. And we dream someday of being in it. I'm so happy.''
The two moved to America in 1986, pursuing their ambition to make a living as artists.
Castillo credits his success in art to Lagos, whom he married 15 years ago. When they met, he was a commercial pilot and she was studying architecture.
But pilot positions were hard to come by. Meanwhile, Lagos began teaching him the basics of art. ``One day she says, `Paint something.' It never crossed my mind before. I never even looked at painting before.''
At first, he painted with watercolors as though they were oils - without adding water. But he soon acquired the knack.
``She taught me how to shade, how to use color. Through the years, she has been very hard critic.''
Now he makes a living from art. At the Boardwalk, Castillo's paintings were priced from $500 to $4,000, though he had sold only one smaller piece as of Saturday morning.
Three years ago, Lagos began showing her art, too. Together, they go to seven to 10 shows a season and spend the rest of their time painting at home in the small town of Bristol, Fla., west of Tallahassee.
``He was born to do this,'' Lagos said. ``He used to paint like I paint - very close up. Now he find his own way.
``Two fruit - it feel alive to me. It's good,'' she pronounced.
Fruit is surprisingly important to Castillo.
``We have them all the time in my house. I live where there are no mangoes, no pineapples, no bananas.''
So his interest in painting fruit ``is not only all those colors and shapes, but this was what I grew up with.''
At home in Colombia, such fruit grew on trees in his back yard.
``It was just wonderful, growing and climbing all these trees, and eating all that fruit.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by HUY NGUYEN\The Virginian-Pilot
For Gustavo Castillo, fruit evokes sensations of home - Colombia.
Photo by HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Gustavo Castillo's work in watercolor won him the best-in-show award
at the Boardwalk Art Show. Castillo credits his wife, Lagos, with
his success in art: ``One day she says, `Paint something,' '' he
says. ``It never crossed my mind before. I never even looked at
painting before.''
Graphic
WINNERS AT THE BOARDWALK
* Numbers denote display site at the Boardwalk Art Show
Best in show: Gustavo Castillo, Bristol, Fla. (2103)
Board of Trustees Award Honoring Sue Price (second place): Robyn
Nichols, Kansas City, Mo. (2830)
Virginia award (third place): Karen Kinser, Chesapeake (2610)
Award of excellence: Ellen Marshall, Ybor City, Fla. (2206)
Kate Chapman Memorial Award for Sculpture: Owen Pach, Spruce
Pine, N.C. (3124)
Award of distinction: Vincent Serbin, Bricktown, N.J. (1622)
Awards of honor: Marilee Hall, Cookeville, Tenn. (1824); C.G.
Woody Jones, Decatur, Ga. (2007); Ed Huddle, Lancaster, Pa. (2823);
Lou Messa, Madison, Va. (1814); Helen Burkett, Sarasota, Fla.
(2130).
Awards of merit: Ann Grandy, Virginia Beach (3002); Richard
Reuter, Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y. (1816); Archie Smith, Banner Elk, N.C.
(2102); Grant Ward, Jacksonville, Fla. (2619); Jennifer and Bobby
Parker, Norfolk (2002).
Sand dollar awards: F. Lennox Campello, Dumfries, Va. (1712);
Lawrence Mathis, Chickamauga, Ga. (1510); William Kwamenapoh,
Savannah, Ga. (3113); Catriona Trafford Fraser, Dumfries (1713);
Jenny Windsor, Virginia Beach (2607).
Winners received a total of $18,250 in cash awards from the
Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, sponsors of the show.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH BOARDWALK ART SHOW WINNER by CNB