Born in the beautifully-named town of La Mancha, Pétrola, a place where Don Quixote hadn’t even been to see flamingo nests in his famous salty lagoon, this adopted vilero said he’s traveled halfway across Spain teaching and exhibiting. He continued his paintings until one fine day he decided to stay by the sea. With children, grandchildren and even a dog, Feli’s quiet and relaxed life in a friendly place away from the frenzied crowds is the most idyllic and peaceful imaginable and can only be compared to Gerald Durrell and his quiet days. Family on the Ionian paradise island of Corfu.
I had the opportunity to work with him for the first time on the occasion of a wonderful exhibition organized by the former CAM, Los años jovenes. I can say without exaggeration (at least not much) that the group, Most attractions that I remember are bigger than the task we entrusted and the fun goes hand in hand with effort. that you enjoy. Most of us were constantly dancing in the brains of our future teachers to the sound of the Chubby Checker twist, and we dreamed that Julie Christie, who won an Oscar for Schlesinger’s movie Darling, would come to us. day for us to influence your social rise. There, Pepe was the most important writer of all of us, because within that heterogeneous group that would trace the cultural history of the sixties, he always put counterpoint to his work, let’s say, the intense and calm coloring he gave to his paintings. in spain. The land of Matilde, Perico and Periquín or Carrusel Deportivo. And Bonanza, Scale in Hi-Fi, or The Avengers (almost nothing Diana Rigg).
I returned to work with Pepe again in the big exhibition where Arcadi Blasco from the University of Alicante and his works were introduced. As one of the coordinators of Mutxamel’s respect for the artist, he asked for my cooperation in the person of the sculptor and ceramicist friend. Everything was simple with Pepe, and despite the problems with organizing and cataloging the exhibition, the result was excellent and likely led to an anthology of Arcadi’s greatest works ever exhibited.
Our friendship with Pepe Piqueras took shape as time went on and gradually, after some rice or other lean vegetables, we began to gain, yes, literary and artistic trust. A presenter offered to work on the Canelobre issue dedicated to Germán Bernácer to enlighten us about the painter Varela’s adventures in the mountains of Alicante, while he did the same so that he could write about it in correspondence with Canelobre del Diseño. How Spring House Alicante has suddenly changed the climate for the landscape. Against my photos of a red sunrise over the Mediterranean from Palm Grove, Paradís counterattacked with incredible photos of plants floating freely in their vilero. While a maid was advising him on trips and travellers, he showed me his works and reasoned about them, though I never gave them a single one. It was the paintings that showed how the professor of Art and Design at UA freed himself from the academic teachings that led to him receiving the highest marks at the Autonomous University of Madrid, an example of freedom of movement that eluded intense polychromia. bestowing his paintings and engravings.
Good morning my baby. What was addressed in this text was not to tell about my grandfather Cebolleta’s little wars that I was transformed in the blink of an eye, but to tell you a little bit about Piqueras’ latest exhibition Color and Silence in Vila. An impressive title that can be seen and studied in the spring and summer in Vilamuseu de la Vila Joiosa, a city where Pepe and his family have lived for a long, long time and where his close friendship with the artist Llorenç Pizá was established. the person who left us long ago and with whom they formed a basic tandem in the style of Ortega y Gasset.
When you arrive, you kindly readers, you will be able to see the two major chapters in which the artist splits his semi-anthology: “Imaginary Portraits” (which he calls “Conversations”) and “Interior Landscapes” (which he refers to as “Atmospheres of Silence”). »). More than fifty works in total, in all genres and conditions, but always open to arousing emotions.
And if by chance some drawing, engraving or painting reminds you of that magical artist named Paul Klee, you shouldn’t be too surprised. Piqueras’ work is not easy like that of the Swiss artist. And the thing is, in the words of art historian Pierre Courthion, a specialist in customs officer Rousseau, who was the author of the famous conversations with Matisse in the early forties, there is none of the stereotypes of painting in Piqueras’ work. , because there is nothing already fully expressed in it, but what has been seen before. In short, with this exhibition, the sum total of a large part of his work, very interesting creative phase, can shout from Albacete from the cradle and with José Piqueras Moreno, a convicted villain, that great Swiss master who is a professor at the university. Bauhaus: «! Me and the color are already single». Silence is put by you while admiring the example.
PS: Will this type of article get Piqueras to give me one of his magnificent engravings?