Vicente Herrero Heca (V. Heca)

Three spanish artists awarded at the Carrousel du Louvre 2011

2011-12-24T05:48:00.002+01:00

Three spanish artists awarded at the Carrousel du Louvre 2011 International Painting and Sculpture Exposition , Raimundo Folch won the”Baumel-Schwenck” prize in sculpture, Pepe Madrid, the ADAGP prize in painting and Marta Solsona, the “Bronze loungel” in sculpture.

The fourth edition of the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris was held last december 8 to 11 of 2011, a very important and prestigious international art fair in France, sponsored by the French Republic President Nicolas Zarcozy and organized by the National Society of the Fine Arts of Paris (S.N.B.A) whose famous founders are August Rodín, Manet etc.

The seat of the expositión is located at the explanade of the Louvre museum where the famous crystal pyramid that appeared in the film Da Vinci Code lies at the middle. Down below is an elegant comercial center of high standing stores, an arqueological ruins of what has been a defensive wall of ancient Paris, several enormous halls that leads to varios entrance of the Louvre museum and a widespaced chamber where the Carrousel du Louvre International Art exposition is annually held.

Like every year, a number of six thousand artists from all parts of the world like Korea, China, Japan, United States, Canada, Brazil, Turkey and european countries gather together to exhibit their artworks and fortunately the possibility to receive a prize of some of the awards the jury of the S.N.B.A. delivers

Some members of the artists representing Spain come from Valencia like the painter Tonia Pérez, Miguel Angel Ferré y Julio Castillo who are exhibiting individually at their own and Raimundo Folch, sculptor from Mislata belonging to the group “ Contemporary Spanish Artists“ which is headed by the painter from Zaragoza, Marisa Espinosa who had joined the Carrousel du Louvre for years with artists from all parts of Spain.

After the sculptor from Zamora, Spain Daniel Lorenzo Goñi won the prize in 2009, history repeats itself again when saturday december 10, 2011 Raimundo Folch is awarded the “Baumel-Schwenck” prize of 2011 in sculpture. This condecoratión is considered as the highest distinction award in sculpture, by the S.N.B.A. jury of the Carrousel du Louvre. In Spain the “Baumel-Schwenck” prize is comparable to the "Premio Velásquez” or "Lobo" according to Donato Ruiz, a well known spanish sculptor based in Paris and a member of the S.N.B.A.

Together with the sculptor Raimundo Folch, also was awarded the painter Pepe Madrid with the“ADAGP” prize which meant to be the French General Society of Authors and the sculptor Marta Solsona with the “Bronze Lounge” in sculpture both of them coming from Barcelona and total to three the spanish artists awarded at the Carrousel du Louvre edition of this year.

raimundofolch@ono.com

http://www.raimundofolch.com/

http://www.artwebvalencia.com/

PARALLAX AF FEB 2012

2011-12-19T05:50:00.007+01:00

Dear friends & colleagues
My work will be in this major exhibition in London , February 2012

http://www.barlowfinedrawings.com/parallaxaf.html

Vicente Herrero Heca - Pyramid Project

2011-10-12T02:37:00.004+02:00

▲ The Pyramid Project ▲

Integral Environmental Awareness

This project consists of a pyramid, each of whose four sides expresses an essential component of sustainability.

The installation will be constructed and decorated on site, using photos and artwork in collage style, with the assistance of the public, who will also contribute personal graffiti, comments, and drawings.

The concept behind this artwork is Integral Ecology, an approach that unites consciousness, culture, and nature in the service of sustainability. Integral Ecology recognizes that in order to solve environmental problems, we need to be aware of the multiple worldviews of individuals (both human nonhuman), communities, and cultures, with their many different environmental perspectives.

Based on the original idea of V. Heca

Project performers:

Tonia Pérez Muñoz , Susana Berruguilla Rodríguez, Marian López Plana, Nerea Ferrando & Jaume Ferrer

Eduardo Díez expone en Madrid

2011-09-07T01:47:00.002+02:00

Queridos amigos,

Os invito a la exposición que realizaré del día 15 al 30 de Setiembre de 2011, en Madrid, en la Casa Cantabria.

Adjunto los detalles.

Muchas gracias y un fuerte abrazo a todos ,

Eduardo

Arte con aroma de cafe

2011-08-28T00:22:00.002+02:00

INTERCAMBIO CULTURAL VENEZUELA-MÉXICO.

CON LA PRESENCIA DE LOS ARTISTAS PLÁSTICOS VENEZOLANOS:

ZENAIDA RAMOS
VÍCTOR ROSALES
EFRAÍN PIÑERO

LOS ESPERAMOS!

Información: Etelvina:

etelvina_angulo@hotmail.com

EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY ART

2011-08-18T01:21:00.004+02:00

Alicia Lacuesta . Carlos Casu . Consuelo Plaza Aranda

Evelyn Carell . Flora Miravalles .Geles Conesa .

Hampton Terry . Jesús Zarzuela . Joana Frontera .

José Campayo .José Carlos Ñiguez .José Cózar .

José Luis Benitez . José Manuel Estelles . Laura Sardi .

Mª Carmen Sarti . Mª Carmen Satué .Mª Luisa Pascual .

Mª Teresa Aroz . Manuel Adlert . Manuel Vicent .

Marian Lopez Planas . Marisa Espinosa . Mercedes Gasquet.

Miguel Ángel Esteve . Miguel Ángel Ferrer. Mikha-ez .

Nuria Obispo . Pascual Marcos . Pedro Méndez Encomenderos.

Raimundo Folch . Rufi G. Nadal . Tonia Pérez Muñoz .

Vicente Enguidanos . Vicente Greus.Vicente Heca .Vicente Plá .

LA GALERÍA PORTAL A L`ART

con

La Asociación Emprendedores de las Artes y las Letras

Are pleased to invite you to our

EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY ART

September 3 to 29

Galería Portal a l`Art

Avda. Puerto de Santa María, 1

03710 CALPE

Tel: 96 583 88 37

INAUGURATION SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER AT 1800 HOURS.

Hours:

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 10 to 13 hours

Monday to Friday 17 to 21 hours

"Be water" Photos by Maka Fidyka ,

2011-06-02T06:04:00.002+02:00

You ll be welcome to "Be water" Photos ,

by Maka Fidyka , Painter & Photography

Essential water pictures from different European cities like Paris, Florence, Valle de Aran, Krakow,Katowice, Barcelona, Stuttgart and Rome

An invitation to contemplation of water as healing and inspiring teacher

Welcome to the vernissage, Friday 10 / 6 at 19hs:

FRANCOIS TOUTFAUX Dj Music

Introduction by Magnolo Priego, Oliver y Montse Ramos

and Video-installation on the subject.

Ends 22 /6 Corte Inglés ,Portal del Angel ,sala ámbito cultural ,6·planta .

BARCELONA

Maka

Encounter of Two poetic visual artists F.F. Mendoza & Vicente Heca, At the Galería Real ,Pla del Real,3 ,Castellón Spain

2011-04-25T00:51:00.018+02:00

Pause in time
Encounter of Two poetic visual artists:

The hyperrealistic paintings of Vicente Heca and the mixed media poetic narratives of ff Mendoza

WHEN: From May 3 to May 30

OPENING: Friday, May 6 at 7:30 PM.. Everyone is invited.

WHERE: GALERÍA REAL, CASTELLÓN, SPAIN

http://www.artmajeur.com/affmendoza/

http://sites.google.com/site/vhecapintor/

Aedal, new Art Space

2011-03-27T15:13:00.004+02:00

Vicente Heca , new director of Aedal Art Space , in Valencia , Spain

If you like to show your artwork in our gallery, please send an email to:
artedirect@gmail.com
Blog : http://aedal.blogspot.com/

ARCADIA GROUP SHOW IN MADRID

2011-01-04T02:49:00.008+01:00

Where: C.C. MONTECARMELO Ave Santuario de Valverde 77

Fuencarral - El Pardo

Madrid

When: January 8 - 30

OPENING: Saturday , January 8, at 6,30 PM. Everyone is invited.

Featured Artists :

ALBERTO S.J. “NADROJ”

JAVIER VIDAL

JOSE ANTONIO MINUESA

MANUEL MATA

MANUEL PARRA

MARINA URBINA

PEPE LINARES

VICENTE HECA

http://www.grupoarcadia2012.com/

Christmas group exhibition of painting & sculpture at the Maika Sánchez Gallery , Valencia - Spain

2010-12-26T03:04:00.010+01:00

FROM DECEMBER 23 TO JANUARY 31

Maika Sánchez Gallery

C/ Grabador Esteve nº 9 - bajo
46004 - Valencia
Tel / Fax: 96 334 36 64

http://www.maikasanchez.es/

Featured Artists

MIRÓ, SAURA ,DALÍ, VALDÉS, IMBER, J.COYTO, F. MONTEAGUDO, RUISÁNCHEZ, M. A. GETE, JAVIER CERDA, MATEO ROBLES,JAVIER RODANÉS, E. CORTINA, ANDRÉS LAMBERT, VICENTE HECA, BONACHE, PUIGGROS, F. VIDAL, MORENO DE CASTRO, BAILACH, NICOLETTA, J.ORTIZ, ANA MUÑOZ, CHARO PINAZO, BOLUDA ....

JESÚS COYTO

JULIÁN ORTIZ

NICOLETTA

VICENTE HECA

Holographic Art by Vicente Heca

These works combine fine oil brush painting in the Spanish tradition with the technology of holography, a colorful display of motion in three dimensions formed by laser beams. The holograms, works of pure light, are screwed into the painting surface (masonite). Vicente studied holography in art at New York Alpha Holographics and New York Holographic Laboratories.

JESUS COYTO Art Exhibition in Castellón, Spain

2010-11-01T11:01:00.004+01:00

If you’re in Castellón, Spain, please visit the art exhibition of my friend and colleague Jesús Coyto

WHEN: November 5-20, 2010, Mon. through Fri., 6 – 9 PM

OPENING: November 5, at 8 PM. Everyone is invited.

WHERE: ART DAM GALLERY Alloza, 54 Tel. 964 204617

12001 Castellón Spain

You are cordially invited to the opening of my art exhibition
Jesus Coyto

www.jesuscoyto.com

jesuscoyto@hotmail.com

LATEST GROUP EXHIBITION AT THE MAIKA SÁNCHEZ GALLERY VALENCIA - SPAIN

2010-10-16T14:51:00.003+02:00

Group Exhibition in Valencia

2010-09-12T05:15:00.007+02:00

Vicente Heca will be participating in this group exhibition of painting & sculpture at

Salón de exposiciones Junta Municipal Ciutat Vella,
C/ Micalet 1, Valencia, Spain

Opening Wednesday, September 22, 2010, at 7 PM

Three friends, one passion; art

2010-07-14T02:01:00.008+02:00

If you’re in Oropesa del Mar, Castellón, Spain, next month, please visit the art exhibition “Tres amigos, una pasión; el Arte” (THREE FRIENDS, ONE PASSION; ART)

WHEN: From July 31 to August 14, Monday to Sunday , 5 – 8 PM

OPENING: Saturday , Jul. 31, at 7 PM. Everyone is invited.

WHERE: CASTILLO TORRE DEL REY, OROPESA DEL MAR, CASTELLÓN, SPAIN

TEL. 656 64 07 35

Nadroj :http://nadroj94.jimdo.com/index.php

Parra : http://manuparrabernabeu.blogspot.com/

Heca : http://v-heca.blogspot.com/

FOUR ELEMENTS CONVERGENCY exhibition -Kiama-Australia

2010-06-11T14:20:00.004+02:00

Four Elements Convergency

Artists, Anton Olea (Painter), Federico F. Mendoza (Experimental Mixed Media) and Marisol Jaque (Ceramist) explore aspects of collaboration between the creators and the four elements of Mother Nature. They focus on the relationship between creativity, philosophy, personal identity and commonality.
The artists capture the basis of the four elements in their artworks and demonstrate different connections, experiences, traditions and perspectives at a collective and individual level.

The exhibition will be open from the 1st – 7th June at Kiama Community Arts Centre.

Special Opening Ceremony:
5th June, 5pm – 9pm

Anton Olea (Painter)
As a surrealist visual artist, Anton explores the traditional and contemporary mechanisms of society and where the four elements of Mother Nature are embedded into the human life. Anton’s paintings contain mixed media, oil and acrylic substances, expressing a human dependence on technology, but also a defensive stance towards the unconscious expressions and personal sensitivity filled with dreams and hopefulness. www.antonolea.com/

Federico F. Mendoza (Experimental Mixed Media)
Federico chose the difficult path of expressionism; ambivalent and experimental works where the four elements are represented crossing opposites and transitions. He explores the different parodies and ironies with some critical surroundings and social realities. His imaginative works are situated in the constant balance between order and chaos. www.artmajeur.com/affmendoza/

Marisol Jaque (Ceramist)

Marisol moves originality through a path between traditional techniques of ceramic arts and personal creativity. As a ceramist, she travels through the four elements , forcing the expression of creativity and its form within her works. aidajaque@hotmail.com

Guide to Heca Web Sites

2010-04-21T19:29:00.003+02:00

Several web sites follow the work of V. Heca (Vicente Herrero Heca):

VICENTE HECA, CUADROS / PAINTINGS is a gallery of paintings and videos that is the most up-to-date collection of my work, with text in Spanish and English: http://v-heca.blogspot.com/
LA CUADRATURA DE LA CANICA (V. Heca & Friends) is the place to go for announcements of current exhibitions, photos, and news of my own work and activities as well as those of other artists: http://vicenteheca.blogspot.com/
V. HECA PINTOR is an older bilingual site where selected works are organized by subject matter: http://sites.google.com/site/vhecapintor
VICENTE HERRERO HECA (V. HECA), the site you are now viewing (http://vicenteherreroheca.blogspot.com/), is an English blog with a variety of interesting content. Please also visit VICENTE HECA, CUADROS / PAINTINGS for the most recent works.

Nadroj, art exhibition in Madrid

2010-04-21T14:01:00.001+02:00

Paintings by my colleague and friend "Nadroj"

ARCADIA GROUP SHOW IN MADRID

2010-03-08T21:57:00.000+01:00

ARTEALTEA VIDEO

2010-03-08T21:49:00.000+01:00

LATEST GROUP EXHIBITION AT THE ARTEALTEA GALLERY VALENCIA - SPAIN

2010-03-05T02:41:00.004+01:00

Group Exhibition in Valencia

2010-02-26T22:41:00.000+01:00

Vicente Heca will be participating in this

group exhibition of painting & sculpture at

ArtealteA, C/Conde Altea 2, 46005 Valencia, Spain

Opening Thursday, March 4, 2010, at 8 PM

Group Show in Madrid

2010-02-09T21:56:00.002+01:00

SYRIA.......... Future Meeting

Art event in Castellon, Spain

2010-02-02T14:32:00.001+01:00

http://artecastellon.blogspot.com/

PRIX SPÉCIAL à VICENTE HECA

2009-12-25T02:24:00.001+01:00

La Société Nationale des Beaux-arts

2009-11-23T04:34:00.006+01:00

Confirme par la présente, inviter en délégations les artistes espagnols suivants pour le Salon du Carrousel du Louvre qui se tiendra du 10 au 13 décembre 2009 au Carrousel du Louvre, Salle Le Nôtre.

Délégation d'Espagne

VICENTE HECA

Salon de la S.N.B.A. Exposition du 10 au 13 décembre. Vernissage le jeudi 10 à 18HSalle Le Nôtre Carrousel du Louvre Paris
Vicente Heca a étudié à l’Ecole Supérieure de Beaux-art de Carlos San à Valence, puis à l'École d'Art de Musée de Brooklyn, New York. Diplôme supérieur des Beaux-arts, Université Politechnique de Valence. Membre de l'ancien Musée d'Holographie à New York. Artiste Résident à Altoes de Chavon, République dominicaine. Il a donné des cours de dessins et des leçons de peinture dans plusieurs Centres d'Art en Europe et en Amérique. Illustrations dans les établissements suivants : - La Banque Royale du Canada. - Circulo Culturel d'España, New York. - Casa d'España, New York. - Altoes de Chavon Base(Fondation), République dominicaine. - Musée d'Art Moderne, Santo Domingo, République dominicaine. - Musée d'art contemporain, Mallorca, Espagne

La Société Nationale des Beaux-arts

2009-11-23T04:34:00.004+01:00

Délégation d'Espagne

VICENTE HECA

2009-11-16T01:31:00.001+01:00

New Spanish Blog

2009-10-23T22:12:00.000+02:00

Please visit my new blog in Spanish, a companion to this blog.

Exhibition in Cannes: Contemporary Spanish Art

2009-10-15T02:21:00.006+02:00

Com2Art

Pour une partage International des Arts Plastiques

L’Association Com2Art vous prie de bien vouloir

assister au vernissage de sa nouvelle exposition à

The Com2Art Association invites you to

a preview of its new exhibition at

l’Atelier 109 – 39-41, rue Léon Noël – Cannes

Cette exposition mettra lumière

les artistes espagnols de notre association

This exhibition highlights the Spanish artists of our association

Vernissage

Jeudi 8 octobre 2009 à 18H30

Preview Thurs. 8 Oct. 2009 at 6:30 PM

Exposition du 8 au 24 octobre

Exhibition from 8 to 24 October

Association Com2Art (chez ACO)

Siège social: 262 Allée des cougoussolles - 06110 Le Cannet

Tel : +33(0)965 167 860 - GSM: +33(0)630 014 793

Art in Valencia, Spain

2009-10-06T15:25:00.005+02:00

In my previous post (26 September), I gave a link to Art Web Valencia for images from the October exhibition of my friend Federico Mendoza. I want to urge everyone to also visit the home page of the ArtWebValencia site, where you can appreciate and enjoy the work of other artists in the Valencian community. Even if you don't read Spanish, click on the images and visit the different galleries.

“Evocations”: Art Exhibition in Valencia

2009-09-26T16:18:00.010+02:00

Artists above (left to right): Natacha, Antonio Torres Iñigo, Julian Ortiz, Tito Moreno del Muro, Raimundo Folch

If you’re in Valencia, Spain, next month, please visit the art exhibition “Evocaciones” (Evocations) of my friend and colleague Federico F. Mendoza, a Spanish multimedia artist from Australia.

WHEN: October 1-29, 2009, Mon. through Fri., 6 – 9 PM

OPENING: Thursday, Oct. 1, at 8 PM. Everyone is invited.

WHERE: Galería de Arte Natalia Gil, Calle Sevilla 11, 46006 Valencia, tel. 96-373-03-68

For a virtual tour of Federico's work, please go to ArtWebValencia. With your cursor, move the bar at the bottom of the page toward the right, and you will see a variety of his works. When you reach the end, at the far right, it says VER FOTOS INAUGURACIÓN; click on that to see photos of the opening of the show. For a review of Federico’s show (in Spanish) by R. Folch, see this page.

Left to right: Natalia (gallery owner), Vicente Heca (painter), Luis (friend of Federico), Natacha (painter).(Federico, who lives in Australia, was not at the opening).

Early work: The Sea Strand (Mallorca)

2009-09-19T20:09:00.002+02:00

Latest Group Exhibition: Zaragoza, Spain

2009-09-07T23:17:00.009+02:00

The Passage of Time by V. Heca

International Exhibition of Contemporary Art,
Sept. 1-15, 2009, Espacio Cultural, Hotel Boston,
Avenida de las Torres, Zaragoza

This exhibition is the fruit of the collaboration of all the members of the Com2Art Association and especially the painter Marisa Espinosa, distinguished member of the association in Spain.

Participants

Spain: Marisa Espinosa, José Ramon Lobez Millan, Carmen Gomez Junyent, Carmen Guerra Vegas, Maria Teresa Aroz, Gerard Valls, Ana Perez Moreno, Antonio Zumaquero, Inés Rosal, Vicente Heca

Australia: Jacqueline Martin-Miller

Belgium: Martine Van De Walle

Canada: Josée Gauthier, Martine Belanger, Ginette Beaulieu, Gisèle Boulianne, Lucie Chicoine, Alain Dionne, Marc Fugere, Heide Mc Donald Messing, Raymonde Perron, Traini Audrey

Denmark: Leif Nielsen.

France: Françoise Paterac, Alexandra Allard, Francis Rusek, Anet, Gyslaine Pachet Micheneau,Salvadora Ortega

Switzerland: Jacqueline Guibat

Labyrinth

2009-08-29T03:10:00.002+02:00

2009-07-09T21:31:00.002+02:00

Expo 2005

2009-07-04T00:28:00.002+02:00

International Exhibition: Catedral Don Justo

2009-06-01T00:27:00.004+02:00

This international group exhibition is dedicated to Justo Gallego, who is constructing his own cathedral in Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid (see more information about Don Justo here).Participants in the show are painter Vicente Heca, sculptor Salvador Nadal, and photographer Maria Heidemann.

Where: Sala de Exposiciones del Instituto Municipal de Cultura y Juventud, in Burjassot, Valencia

When: June 15-26, 2009
Opening: June 15 at 7:00 PM, at C/ MARIANA PINEDA, 93–95, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

Website for the exhibition here.

Dollar

2009-04-07T20:51:00.003+02:00

Mannequin

2009-03-31T02:43:00.002+02:00

Drops

2009-03-17T23:39:00.003+01:00

Painting on Wood

2009-01-21T01:29:00.002+01:00

Robbery

2009-01-13T17:05:00.002+01:00

The note says (roughly): "In this package is your share of the bank robbery. Don't get drunk - take care of the money!"

New series of paintings

2008-11-16T13:29:00.005+01:00

Acrylic on board, 17 x 33.5 cm (6.7 x 13 in.)

Familiar subject matter for Vicente Heca — a glass marble, gleaming striped fabric, folds and wrinkles — but now, allowing wood to show through the painted surface creates a breach in the polished veneer of hyperrealism. In other works the artist shows his love for worn, torn surfaces (the ragged edges of ripped paper, or sea-weathered wood and fishermen’s corks); here the painting surface itself embodies this quality. The painting is not merely an image of a worn, torn object; it is itself that object.

But for me the recent paintings are more than conceptual, more than minimalist, with their black and white and gray schemes. I read in a book about color symbolism in dreams (Dream Language by Robert J. Hoss) that gray often suggests a detachment from or concealment of the emotions. Yet in each painting, emotional content breaks through, as seen in the bright sparks of color enclosed within the marbles. In this small painting a veil has been delicately torn, exposing the rough, natural essence beneath the smooth surface of art and artfulness.

—Kendra Crossen

Valencia

2008-11-06T15:15:00.000+01:00

Franjas y Canicas

2008-10-01T14:38:00.001+02:00

Picasso & the White Ball

2008-09-29T01:30:00.001+02:00

Heca Painting at the Valencia Hilton

2008-09-17T20:44:00.004+02:00

Holographic Art

2008-09-15T12:37:00.006+02:00

Forthcoming Exhibitions

2008-08-25T23:48:00.010+02:00

Treasure of Seeds: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art
Jenolan Caves, NSW, Australia
13-21 September 2008

Conexiones: Artistas de Tres Continentes
Rocafort, Spain
3 - 31 October 2008

The D'AG BAG

2008-06-22T03:30:00.007+02:00

Vicente Heca’s fascination with wrinkled paper goes back several decades, as demonstrated by this 1976 painting of a “D’Ag Bag.” D’Agostino’s is an old family-owned upscale supermarket chain in New York City, and the design of its famous shopping bags has evolved over the years. Their web site boasts: “No surprise that movies and television shows shot on location in New York frequently use D’Agostino stores or ‘D’AG BAGS’ to help impart a sense of New York City realism.”

Back in 1976, the D’Ag Bag was a humble brown paper bag, just the sort of thing Vicente enjoys painting. And it was great fun to be able to sell the painting to one of the D’Agostino brothers himself, at the opening of a new D’Agostino supermarket in Brooklyn. Of course, most of the money ended up back in the supermarket cash register, as Vicente couldn’t resist using the money to shop for goodies at the new store.

Recently wondering what had become of his painting, Vicente wrote to D’Agostino’s and received good news from Anderson Chung, Director of Marketing for D'Agostino Supermarkets. Mr. Chung reported that the D’Ag Bag painting was alive and well, hanging in view of his office. He kindly sent the photo of the painting shown here.

The D’Ag Bag lives on, currently in a “green” incarnation. But we still feel nostalgia for this unassuming yet moody brown paper bag with its distinctive bold design.

Mini Paintings

2008-06-15T19:40:00.005+02:00

Two Expositions Open in Valencia

2008-06-06T23:36:00.026+02:00

Vicente in front of the Galeria Artis

Painting of Stripes by Vicente Heca at the Galeria ArteAltea

The opening of two group shows in Valencia, Spain, took place on Thursday, May 29.

1. At the Galería Artis, seven international
artists are exhibiting their work in the show
called “Conexiones” (Connections), until June 17.
Paintings, sculptures, and multimedia works are
displayed.

Vicente Heca, Salvador Nadal, and Julia de la Rua
at the Galeria Artis, with the sculpture "The Slave"
by Salvador Nadal

From Australia

Jacqueline Martin-Miller de Velasco, acrylic/mixed media.
Below: Viewers examine La Poesía del Desierto Pinnacles,
which combines paint with paper handmade of plants and flowers.

Federico F. Mendoza, photomontage.

From Spain

Salvador Nadal, sculpture in natural and synthetic stone

Julia De la Rúa, watercolor paintings

Vicente Heca, acrylic paintings

From America

Jesús María del Rincón, acrylic paintings. Below: Bibi chats with
a visitor, in front of two of his paintings.

Cuca del Rincón, fine-art photography

2. Ten artists are showing at the Galería ArteAltea,
with its attractive, newly renovated space.
See the exhibition virtually at
www.galeriaartealtea.com.

Featured Artists

Alexis Alemany - Chelin Sanjuan - Mario Garcia Miro

Vicente Heca - Hector Fernandez - Joan Subira

Ramon Gutierrez - Paz Tejon

Jesús María del Rincón - Cuca del Rincón

Vicente Heca in front of the Galeria ArteAltea

Bibi del Rincón and Chelin Sanjuan

Vicente, Alexis, and Jose Luis of Al-Lucin Arte

Mobile

2008-05-27T20:33:00.002+02:00

Found

2008-05-20T14:18:00.002+02:00

Connections: Artists of Three Continents

2008-05-08T11:43:00.010+02:00

With several friends who are members of the international group Artenergia, Vicente is now preparing an upcoming exhibition in Valencia, Spain. Here is your invitation.

Galería Artis
Calle Cirilo Amorós, 78
Valencia 46004
Gallery hours, 6 - 9 pm , Monday through Saturday

Opening, Thursday, 29 May 2008, at 8 PM

Web pages of the other participating artists:

Jacqueline Martin- Miller de Velasco - Australia

Federico F. Mendoza - Australia

Salvador Nadal - Spain

Julia De la Rúa - Spain

Jesús María del Rincón - Puerto Rico

Cuca del Rincón - Puerto Rico

Vicente, Federico, and Julia

Meher Baba and the Blue Marble

2008-05-04T20:17:00.002+02:00

Piedras Encontradas

2008-04-22T13:21:00.004+02:00

All of these "found stones" and bits of sea-weathered tile were picked up along the Mediterranean shore—except for one. Can you guess which one of these stones we found in our bag of potatoes?

Pendulum

2008-04-18T09:40:00.004+02:00

No, it's not a bagel. It's a Spanish fisherman's cork net float.

Libros

2008-04-05T18:03:00.003+02:00

Reencontrando Recuerdos

2008-03-27T14:23:00.003+01:00

Threads

2008-03-17T21:15:00.003+01:00

Glass marble

2008-03-07T14:44:00.003+01:00

On Interpreting the Paintings of Heca

2008-02-24T14:00:00.014+01:00

by Kendra Crossen

Few things are more annoying than pontifications about art. I received a basic education in art, but I prefer to identify myself with those who don’t know anything about art but know what they like. I am interested in asking myself what I experience when I look at the paintings of Vicente Herrero Heca, what I appreciate about them, and what I might want to communicate to others about this.

Courses in art appreciation teach us what kinds of questions to ask when we view a painting—things like “Why do you think the artist chose this particular subject to paint?” “How has the artist applied the paint? ” “Is the composition balanced? “Where might the artist have stood while painting this picture?” These questions are not hard to answer (although in the case of Heca, that last question is a little weird—where did he stand while viewing a series of leaves floating below a patch of sky?). Is his composition balanced? Undoubtedly. How did he apply the paint? With mastery. Everyone admires skill (“It looks so real!”), and undoubtedly a work of art must demonstrate mastery of a skill; but is verisimilitude alone the primary virtue of art?

One of the questions we’re supposed to ask when criticizing artworks is what the creator set out to do and whether he or she accomplished it. But that doesn’t tell us whether we enjoy a painting and why. It may be enough to like a painting and not explain why we do, but for me it’s interesting to identify what is meaningful about it, how it conveys that meaning, and what else unfolds as I keep looking at it over time.

I found online a list of “Terry Barrett's Principles of Interpretation,” which I like. Here are a few of them:

Artworks have "aboutness" and demand interpretation.
Feelings are guides to interpretations.
There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork.
An artwork is not necessarily about what the artist wanted it to be about.
The objects of interpretation are artworks, not artists.
The meanings of an artwork may be different from its significance to the viewer.

(From Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary by Terry Barrett. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1994)

Of the points I omitted, I think these two are valuable, but I won’t discuss them in relation to Heca, as they can be easily analyzed by others: All art is in part about the world in which it emerged. All art is in part about other art.

DALÍ

HECA

I don’t think a painting, not a good one anyway, can be limited to what the artist intended. The work leaves the artist’s brush with a mind of its own, and even he may be surprised at what it does. We may not necessarily have to know what the intention was, though in some cases knowing it could significantly alter our perception. What about the Heca painting called Letter to the Future?

A group of familiar images is stripped down to colors and shapes, ones that are inextricably imbued with associations, not especially compatible ones. Is this a work of surrealistic incongruousness, or maybe a pop tribute to art and freedom? Does your response to it change if you find out that it was inspired by the campaign to legalize gay marriage in Spain? I wonder what other “meanings” this painting could have.

I imagine my reactions to art are similar to most other people’s. I want to be entertained or touched, to feel some fresh emotion, to be stimulated to reflect or remember, to be soothed or healed, to be uplifted and awakened or just simply pleased. I look for familiar shapes that I can identify with and also for ones that are competely strange to me, for a narrative, an entrée into a world where I can experience an alternative reality. I also want to know what I am experiencing and be able to describe it.

I am looking for a story to tell myself. The poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote, “The world is made up of stories, not of atoms.” Everyone has a child within, and the child demands stories.

I love to stare at a blank wall, not to make my thoughts go away but to paint them onto an empty screen so as to give them coherence. If there’s a Heca painting on the wall, that’s even better as a canvas for my projections. Some of his pictures flirt with the abstract, but I can never see them purely as colors and shapes (circles, squares, triangles, stripes), however visually interesting those might be. A cartoon in The New Yorker many years ago showed two ladies in hats examining a chaotically abstract painting in the museum and one says to the other, “I think I see a little bunny in there.” I smile at such naiveté but also understand it. The eye wants to look at something, preferably a body or anything relevant to human life, like a landscape, a division of the canvas into spaces that I can imagine my body in, an atmosphere of light and color and forms that put me in touch with the constant underground stream of energy and emotions and subtle fantasies that run beneath the surface of daily life.

Looking at some of these paintings is like taking a walk on the moon. I have stumbled into another world, one that may send me drifting aloft from the security of any surface. In many there is so little depth to the picture plane that I am forced to confront the image in an intense way, like someone whose nose has been pushed against a glass window. But soon I start to feel at home, recognizing my surroundings as an interior space of consciousness. This particular world is not initially familiar; I never before envisioned wide-eyed close-ups of wrinkled cloth or paper—torn, or tenuously mended, or with a marble floating in space peeping through a torn section … or a still life that materializes out of nowhere, with marbles or little pebbles or twigs casting shadows but with no discernible ground on which they rest, no identifiable source of illumination, so flat is the gray or pink background …yet sometimes there's a a patch of sky, a glimpse of space, a planet-like ball bobbing in a black void. I never imagined this myself, but now that I have seen these paintings, they have become part of my internal image bank, they exist within me as a visual reference point and have changed the way I look at things and think about them.

The artist’s gaze is a palpable presence on the canvas. It is not that I sense a man behind me causing the image to appear with a magic paintbrush, but I feel an aura of concentration and clarity. It gets transferred to me, not mechanically like a file from one computer to another, but as an energy of creativity radiating from one consciousness to another—or, as Heca believes, from the objects themselves. Because of the clarity of the artist’s vision, my vision clears up too and I see what he saw, making it my own.

What are these works about? Someone could say they sacralize the ordinary, elevate the humble to some kind of existential or visual holiness, to transform our perception of the mundane. But this is not quite the same as taking a snippet of so-called reality—a soup can, a Coke bottle, a paper bag—and giving it significance just by pretending it’s worthy of monumentalization, with or without irony. I don’t think there is irony in Heca’s work; it is sincere. Simple things seem worthy of attention in his paintings becase they are, that’s all.

To me these works are invitations to contemplation. They are conceptual, but that doesn’t mean they are cold or intellectual. The feeling in them is not always immediately apprehended; I need to absorb the image and let it work on me. There is sensuality in the billows and folds of the crumpled cloth. The marbles know that they are loved, and they give love back, in the form of light. Each one is a world, within which one can see swirling forms taking shape, to become something as yet unknown.

There’s a drama going on, an attempt to order reality, to take the torn or rumpled pieces of things subject to the wear and tear of time and perhaps of neglect or even violence, and to impart to them a calming order, or to sew their wounds, however tentatively, back together. And again, to allow them to tear, fall apart, scatter, or float. Maybe the folds are features of some earthy topography of the soul; the contours of a brain etched with neuronal pathways; or even body parts folded in on themselves, relaxed, or in motion, the limbs of a model posing or someone sprawled under the sheets.

The art historian James Elkins, in a fascinating book called The Object Stares Back, says that we inevitably see bodily forms, metaphors, or echoes in works of art. In an abstract painting, anything round can become an eye, and Heca’s marbles certainly stare back at us with catlike inscrutability. The artist has said that his marbles are symbols of the human being. If Elkins is right, then this is only natural and would be true even if Heca didn’t think of it. One could say they symbolize a human being isolated in his or her individual apartness from other beings. When the spheres are solid balls or bubbles, they are opaque or empty, but when they metamorphize (so to speak) into marbles, light and energy are transmitted outside the shell in the form of a shadow.

There’s often solitariness or aloneness in these paintings, not to say loneliness. I am reminded of a Sufi saying that speaks of a journey from the alone to the Alone—from the isolation of the single, separate individual to the divine Unity in which there is only One.

Objects may be placed in relationship to one another but without touching. Have they been ripped asunder, separated, or scattered? Each marble is a glass-enclosed tiny terrarium isolated within its own sphere. Inside, it evolves its own separate life forms. Yet it shares its marbleness with its companions. Or could the companions be evolving selves of the same marble-being … or a series of eggs with little embryos inside them? Are the marbles and rumpled fabric the descendants of still-life objects painted by Heca years ago?

Over the years, the work has undergone a minimalist transformation, in which familiar, usually edible objects—comfort foods of the imagination—are distilled into concentrated images of the essence of time (the wrinkles, the weathered wood) and space (the objects in relation to their shadows, one another, and the picture plane). Although they are conceptual, these paintings are not just thoughts; they have an evocative “thingyness.” A treasure found on the shore or a weathered branch—entities once living, visibly formed by their history and still carrying life as a memorial to the passage of time. A rumpled bedsheet, perhaps, or is it gift wrap? Wrinkled brown paper. Something torn, revealing a surprise. Something torn being sewn together, healed.

Sometimes the mending seems like a joke, with that flimsy thread barely holding crumpled paper together. Is it enough to keep body and soul together? But isn’t the paper after all rather rich-looking, earthy with hints of warm flesh tones or green highlights, and the striped material gleaming with a luxurious sheen? A snail slithers past a mended tear, like one of the silent shells from another painting suddenly come alive (see the painting "Snail" below).

I like the way the members of the marble series dialogue with one another. Sometimes the marbles are arranged as if the painter were compulsively bringing order to the world. At other times marbles escape or fall from the arrangement and go off on whimsical adventures of their own, abandoning the organizational life they endured in other paintings. They are naughty, entering places where they have no business being.

There’s that cheeky marble again, with a dollar bill “carelessly” taped on a surface, framed by gold leaf and a graceful bit of pink ribbon. Is it a social commentary making us aware of our crass attachment to money, or the world’s love of American values? (I hope not.) Are we receiving a gift? Whatever is happening, the marble stands by as an observing eye, perhaps mocking the whole thing.

The painting is visually interesting, and whether I can separate that experience from what I think when I see a dollar bill is a question. But maybe I don’t have to stop thinking about a dollar bill. It is, after all, a welcome sight, arousing a sense of power and impending gratification. The image reminds me of the currency framed by business owners to memorialize the first dollar they earned. Maybe it’s a lucky dollar. Paintings can be talismans.

Wherever an object appears in these paintings, even if its context is ambiguous (for example, when it’s hard to distinguish the earth from the sky), its inscrutable shadow accompanies it. This brings the marble or the twig into relationship, even if only to itself.

At times, objects come together and commune.

One cycles through the opposites of existence, between solitude and relationship, separation and union, infinite space and enclosure, flat color and nuanced textures, order and chaos.

But there’s really not much chaos. Things are deliberately placed, patiently composed, mindfully painted. Ultimately this is a world of order and restoration, with a mission of repairing the world, returning it to beauty, there to be contemplated in silence. Eventually each image produces in the viewer new moods and fantasies, like butterflies hatched and released into the ether. . . .

Snail

2008-02-24T12:11:00.004+01:00

Cuadrícula

2008-02-22T21:53:00.005+01:00

Healed

2008-02-16T13:00:00.003+01:00

"Arte Solidario" Group Show in Toledo, Spain, 12/07 - 1/08

2008-02-10T19:59:00.010+01:00

Artists from nine countries participated in this show in Toledo, Spain, 12/07 - 1/08, which was a benefit to rebuild a children's school in Cañete, Peru. A slideshow of photos of the exhibit appears above in the right-hand column.

Tangle

2008-02-09T20:32:00.002+01:00

Friends

2008-02-08T12:42:00.000+01:00

Shards

2008-02-06T10:24:00.000+01:00

Blue Stripes

2008-02-05T13:28:00.001+01:00

The Four Seasons

2008-02-05T02:43:00.002+01:00

Revealed

2008-02-02T11:42:00.001+01:00

Levitation

2008-02-02T11:41:00.001+01:00

Between Heaven and Earth

2008-02-02T11:40:00.000+01:00

Muses Visit the Poet

2008-02-02T11:39:00.001+01:00

Package of Euros

2008-02-01T13:41:00.001+01:00

The Passage of Time

2008-02-01T13:40:00.001+01:00

Let the imagination soar

2008-02-01T13:38:00.000+01:00

Alliance of Two Colors

2008-01-29T11:22:00.000+01:00

Trompe l'oeil slide show

2008-01-28T13:36:00.000+01:00

See sidebar or Flickr site.

Marbles

2008-01-27T21:10:00.001+01:00

Shell

2008-01-27T21:02:00.001+01:00

Remnant

2008-01-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

Black Stripes

2008-01-27T20:50:00.001+01:00

Sphere

2008-01-27T20:31:00.000+01:00

Burgundy Stripes and Blue Marble

2008-01-27T20:28:00.000+01:00

Design

2008-01-27T20:26:00.001+01:00

Letter to the Future

2008-01-27T20:15:00.001+01:00

"Every stone is like the chapter of a book written over thousands of years."

2008-01-27T20:06:00.000+01:00