Archive for the 'Art' Category

Now that summer is at its height the very cultural town of Javea has decided to celebrate the season with a full-scale celebration of the Arts. On 26th, 27th and 28th of August the town will enjoy the best of architecture, the plastic arts, theatre and music. The participation of more than 80 artists means that visitors to this festival will have to plan their time carefully if they are to experience everything.

Continue reading…Javea’s Visual Week celebrates the finer things in life…

Jávea’s Espai d’Art is currently featuring the unique perspective of Swiss sculptor, Lukas Ulmi.

This imaginative artist specialises in creating sculptures with a difference; his pieces tend not to be solid shapes crafted from some heavy substance, such as bronze or marble, but are wonderfully striking and witty objects that move and change.

Continue reading…Lukas Ulmi: sculpture that moves…

It seems that, these days, even artists with significant international reputations have to do some lateral thinking when it comes to funding their projects. While the major movie studios aim their output primarily at younger viewers, appealing to teenage vampire fans, frat boys and, most particularly, to the pester power of young children, less commercial projects suffer.

Continue reading…Filmmakers resort to unusual means to secure funding…

Valencia’s reputation for contemporary architecture is internationally acknowledged, its Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias a prime visitor attraction. However, on the modern art front it is IVAM (Institut Valencia d’Art Modern) that flies the flag.

This modern building with its characteristic clean lines stands on Calle de Guillem de Castro and owes its healthy visitor numbers partly to its very modest entrance fee, but mostly to its excellent exhibitions.

Continue reading…IVAM makes the case for modern art…

Known as the Sistine Chapel of Prehistoric Art, Spain’s famous Altamira caves are to be opened to the public again, eight years after they were closed to protect the paintings of deer, bison and bulls from damage.

The paintings had such an effect on Pablo Picasso when he visited them that he is reported to have exclaimed, “After Altamira all is decadence.”

Continue reading…Spain’s Culture Ministry reopens the Altamira caves…

With its 1950s roots and recent authentication scandals one might assume that Pop Art would have lost some of its attraction. Lacking the antique appeal of the Impressionists and, by its very nature, devoid of the rarity value of many Fine Arts movements, it is nonetheless as popular now as in its heyday.

In the past few weeks, two masters of the American Pop Art movement have proved their worth in the only way that matters on the international art market – by attracting astonishingly high bids at auction.

Continue reading…Pop Art sales herald upswing in international art market…

It is said that the best publicity is free publicity and, thanks to writer and Hispanophile Jason Webster, Valencia has been the recipient of some very welcome attention recently.

Webster, whose wife Salud hails from the city, published an article in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper about Valencia’s colourful and historic El Cabanyal district, praising it as a “working-class jewel of art-nouveau design”. However, he was eager to point out to readers that, despite officially being a ‘protected historical zone’, this unique part of Valencia faces demolition as part of a scheme to extend one of the city’s avenues from the city centre to the sea.

Continue reading…Valencia’s El Cabanyal district features in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper…