When they are found guilty of money laundering Juan Carlos González Martín, ‘Culebra’, luxury cars, a yacht, chalets, apartments, commercial buildings and a large amount of money stored in banks were seized. By then, there was nothing different from what had been taken from any man with ties to drug trafficking like Culebra. But the latter had something rarely found in the sellers’ homes: an extensive art collection.
The art gallery of Juan Carlos González Martín of Vigo was both extensive and diverse. There was an abstract painting inside Religion Matamoroeven a cubist piece Joaquim Pinho Diniswalking through a surreal painting Urbano Lugris Vadillo, portraits and dozens of figurative landscapes and seascapes. This entire collection is going to public auction in a process managed by the A Coruña College of Lawyers and the Galicia Foundation against Narcotrafficking, headquartered in Vilagarcía.
‘Culebra’ had different tastes, but judging by the captured images a particular preference for landscapes and, among them, seascapes. He also supported Galician painters, mostly those born or settled in Vigo. Manuel Caballero García-Barba, Rufino Peral or Miguel Ángel Sánchez Lareo.
But that didn’t stop him from seeing a few French sights. Paul ArmandiStarting from the 19th century; A naked woman from Barcelona Xabier Blanch; a hyperrealistic representation of a ship’s deck, also by the Catalan Ibán Navarro; or a landscape of walls in the mist, painted by an Avila native in the middle of the last century. Eduardo Martínez Vázquez.
Based on the works up for auction, he also felt that: Special appreciation for writers like García-Barba or Sánchez Lareobecause there were more than half a dozen pictures of him. In other cases, Din Matamoros seemed to bet on the safe values of the art market, such as Urbano Lugrís, Vidal Souto or Xaime Quessada.
Religion is the most expensive work of Matamoros
Din Matamoros’ abstract painting became the most expensive work in the auction, as experts valued it at 100,000 TL. 5,000 euros. It is acrylic on canvas in which two figures, one blue and the other red, fade until they merge on a white background.
It is also likely that there is more than one person interested in the surrealist vision. Urbano Lugris (the value of the painting is 3,000 Euros) is seen by a pilgrim observing a seascape where reality and dreams are mixed. García-Barba has works in which his interest in the least preferred characters and the most difficult jobs in society is felt. His portrait of a fisherman and his oil paintings dedicated to shellfish harvesters and net fishermen may be among his most admired paintings.
The original bold stroke of the man from Ourense Vidal Souto, navies Sanchez LareoNavigating between figuration and abstraction and futuristic cubism Rufino Peral These are other examples of a large art collection that can now return to the community. Those interested can submit their electronic bids until February 12.