It is such a treat being in Valencia. There are so many galleries to visit, large and small.
Just five minutes walk from the apartment is Fundación Chirivella Soriano and I visited after seeing a poster of two rather eye catching portraits promoting their current exhibition.
Santiago Ydañez
Santiago Ydáñez (Jaen, 1967) lives and works between Berlin and Jaen. He is one of the most internationally renowned painters of his generation. His figurative painting makes him an unmistakable artist on the contemporary art scene.
He has been awarded the 33rd BMW Painting Prize in 2018, the ABC Prize in 2002 and the scholarship of the College of Spain in Rome in 2016, among others. His imagery is charged with childhood memories of nature and folklore, along with references to art history and the history of humanity. His work often conceals ethical and political messages.
He is a painter of classical subjects whose work is renowned for the expressiveness with which he endows his animals, people and religious imagery. He creates his works in quick sessions, capturing the essential, through a broad, expressive and very energetic brushstroke, his pieces are characterised by the use of a reduced palette of colours close to black and white. source
Chema López (born in Albacete, 1969) is a prominent Spanish contemporary artist and professor in the Painting Department of the Universitat Politècnica de València. His work, often featured at the Galería Rosa Santos, focuses on the crisis of Modernity, using painting, photography, and film to explore memory, conflict, and the manipulation of image. source
It was inspirational to see the work of such acclaimed artists close up, particularly their portrait work.
