Ministry of Fine Arts: Did the medal go to the wrong sister?

Launched in 1969, this is the largest list of awards in history awarded by the Spanish Government to “individuals and organizations who have excelled in artistic and cultural creation or have rendered notorious services in the promotion, development or dissemination”. in the preservation of art and culture or artistic heritage”.

The list covers different disciplines and Hispanic communities, and this year includes names like actor Javier Cámara, writer Rosa Montero, singer Víctor Manuel or posthumous cultural manager and former minister José Guirao, because in the quota canary, Gold Medal goes to painter and sculptor from Gran Canaria mercedes marino, affectionately nickname Mirazo.

This last distinction has created a certain bewilderment and confusion in the cultural sphere of the islands; in this particular case, it questions the mechanisms and criteria for conferring one of the highest national public privileges that award only a little-known artist. , but little work, discreet and occasional exhibits, and without projection or official recognition.

name confusion

Worse still, the same industry warns the Ministry of Culture and Sports of possible confusion with the Mercedes Mariño. his sister Marta Mariño, who is also a painter, “somebody the most distinguished creators of the contemporary art panorama Belonging to the Canarias and the generation of painters who reached artistic maturity in the late ’70s and ’80s,” as stated in the Atlantic Center of Modern Art’s (CAAM) Artists Dictionary profile.

A reference in the Canary Islands, this international art center includes works by Marta Mariño in its collection, just like Tenerife. Art Space (TEA)it is also a reference center in the Archipelago, where the Archipelago has exhibited its work many times. Mercedes Mariño has appeared in only seven separate exhibitions from the mid-90s to the present, some in smaller or marginal rooms, as noted in the biography on the website. His last appearance in the Art Gallery of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University (ULPGC) was in 2013, that is, ten years ago.

The works of the artist, who is a graduate of Business Sciences and educated in a painter family, “the study of the human figure and its anxieties, dreams and daily actions”he adds in his biography, and although he has devoted himself to the arts since the 1990s, his work is not part of any public collection in the Islands.

Award transparency

In the face of this contradiction, Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC) “A possible mistake on the part of one of the recipients of the 2022 Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts has raised the urgent need to establish a method,” they wrote in an open letter to Miguel Iceta, the current Minister of Culture. avoiding the opacity that characterizes these awards”. And the award of these medals, which do not have a fixed number, is subject directly to the recommendation of the person responsible for the Ministry of Culture, without a jury or relevant commissions.

Therefore, in this article, the arts representatives association demands the application of the values ​​of “transparency, rigor and criteria”, which must, above all, govern all calls, in accordance with the Law on Good Practice in the Visual Arts. As in this case, it is institutional in nature and proposes to the Ministry of Culture and Sports to establish an advisory board consisting of people representing all areas of culture for the selection processes.

Canary Islands Ignorance

Pedro Déniz, head of the IAC’s regional delegation to the Canary Islands, said that this situation from the Canarian cultural sector “were deeply saddened”. “It is regrettable that a Ministry of Culture does not seek advice from industry professionals in recognizing this national significance,” he says, emphasizing that this shows: “The Ministry’s profound ignorance of the artistic and cultural panorama of the Canary Islands”.

Ángeles Alemán, an art historian, researcher and tenured professor at ULPGC, says for his part, “Mirazo had a particular predicament in the 70s, linked to the Luján Pérez School and that generation in the Canary Islands. Manolo Ruiz”. . “Mirazo had an audience but now Marta is much better known”, He states that “probably the error was caused not so much by the overlapping of the names between the sisters as by the fact that the information was not updated by the Ministry.”

Also the association Women in Visual Arts (MAV), Numerous prominent artists from the islands and the rest of the national map have posted a statement regarding this controversy on their website, stating that “the awarding of the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts is unacceptable.” “But if this nomination worries us particularly, it’s because Mirazo’s figure is so close to the ‘hobby artist’ of the 19th century. Women working in the visual arts have been dealing with this historical burden for a very long time. the appearance of that ghost”.

with everything, artists Mercedes and Marta Mariño chose not to comment on this.given the difficult situation this argument has put the two sisters in.