Celebrated Artists to Open Gallery in Historic Norcross

Charles Harbin and Reinaldo Vargas couldn’t have more different backgrounds. Harbin worked in technology and recently came back to his true passion of photography. Vargas grew up a painter in Communist Cuba, then fled for France and the U.S.  One makes haunting landscape photography, the other passionate and imaginative paintings.

But both inspired artists, who will soon have side-by-side studios at a new gallery at 27 S. Peachtree St., have a wonderful banter and balance. “We surprise each other,” said Harbin. “We have good symmetry.”

Harbin said he got his first darkroom equipment when he was 12, probably his first camera at 10 or 11. “I annoyed people in the camera shop when I was growing up,” he laughed. He said he never had enough money for the goods, but he wouldn’t leave until he got what he wanted. “But photography has always been a second job for me,” said Harbin. “This is a terrific transition.”

Harbin said his photography is inspired by urban decay and landscapes, especially the images of Ansel Adams and of the Southwest. He is impressed by the intrepid career of Peter Lik, the dramatic landscape artist who has a show on the Weather Channel.  

Reinaldo “Rey” Vargas recalls his first moment of artistic inspiration with his father, a movie projectionist, in Havana. He would hang out with dad at work and remembers seeing the Disney movie “Bambie” and being floored. “I loved Bambie,” Vargas laughs—knowing it is an unlikely muse for an artist of such depth whose has been shown in France, Cuba and Argentina, among other places.

Despite being in the midst of a revolution that looked down on the artistic pursuits, Vargas’ father, Eupenio, pushed him toward art. Vargas remembers days spent with his father at the museum, the opera, the ballet—and the elder Vargas was also an artist himself. “His art isn’t a direct influence but he has influenced me in many, many ways,” said the younger Vargas.

Vargas went on to attend San Alejendro, an art school in Havana. Vargas describes the school as “a real institution,” started by the French artist Vermay. 

It wasn’t long before notice was taken of Vargas’ skills: He travelled through Europe when visiting for a show in Basel, Switzerland. A French official invited him to show his work on the island of Martinique, in the capital of Fort-de-France. “Before, in Cuba, my art was close to German Expressionism, then I was influenced by all different things,” he said of that period of exploration.

Vargas recalls the first time he saw a Marc Chagall painting in Europe. He had studied the Russian artist but had never actually seen his work live. “It was like an explosion of color. It was my second Disney,” he laughed, recalling the unlikely inspiration from “Bambie” as a child. 

Vargas has experimented with many different styles in the course of his rich career. “Ray’s work is like Atlanta’s weather. If you don’t like it just wait a minute,” Harbin gently quipped during a recent conversation.  

The gallery space, in the former Labraire pottery studio, will include an open gallery room to the right, with a partition in the middle and two artists’ studios on the left. The artists say they’ve unearthed some interesting details of the building in the process, some of which they plan to highlight.  

While taking out the space’s lower ceiling, they found old florescent lamps from the '40s or '50s and a delightful wood plank ceiling above it. The high black ceilings give the space a loft feel. Above each of the studios, the artists found a wall with layers upon layers of old paint, decaying with a beautiful patina. That, they’ll leave too.