“Evocations”: Art Exhibition in Valencia

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)

Latest Group Exhibition: Zaragoza, Spain

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

Expo 2005

International Exhibition: Catedral Don Justo

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

Mannequin

Drops

Painting on Wood

Robbery

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

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

Franjas y Canicas

Picasso & the White Ball

Heca Painting at the Valencia Hilton

Holographic Art

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.

Forthcoming Exhibitions

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

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.