The Mojácar La Fuente Municipal Art Centre has inaugurated an exhibition of painting and sculpture titled “Luz del Sur” that brings together more than 40 paintings and close to a dozen sculptures by students of the Clemente Gerez painting school and the sculptor Juan Alonso.
A large public attended the inauguration, among them Raquel Belmonte, acting Mojácar Council Culture Councillor, Francisco García Cerdá, also local authority acting Councillor and the locality’s next Mayor, as well as María Gracia Alarcón.
The artists making up this exhibition are Julia Poves, Michele Koster, Jocelyn Frith, Elena de Salinas, Mariat Bernabé, Mariam O´Dwyer and Marcela González, all of them students of the Félix Clemente Gerez painting school.
Feliz Clemente Gerez is the founder of “Mojacar Arte”, the name of the painting workshop to which the students exhibiting in Mojácar today belong, although the usual group that attends his classes is larger.
A well-known painter in Almería, with an international impact, he has exhibited throughout the world. Despite having numerous awards and being in demand in many places, he has not left the Mediterranean: not Mojácar nor his native Garrucha, only leaving the area on the days necessary for his exhibitions.
Félix Clemente maintains, and he’s not the only one, that the light of Almería is exceptional. A light which he interprets in his works and which is characteristic of it. He is a versatile artist, who has developed his artistic curiosity in sculpture, literature, music and theatre.
He comments with satisfaction on his links with the sea: “The shoreline of the beach was my first painting block and the waves of sea my first draft.” It’s not surprising that his first steps in painting “smelled of the sea”, since as a child the wall of the room where his father kept his fishing tackle was his first canvas.
For Clemente Gerez, the students who put together “Luz del Sur” are very well prepared, with a high level, although their training continues in relation to the understanding of a work: in short, whether it has harmony, composition, framing and soul.
Complementing this exhibition are the sculptures of Juan Alonso, a very well-known and well-loved sculptor in Mojácar due to his shop “Indalos Juan”. It is a reference point in the municipality for craftwork, sculpture, and of course, the indalos, all made from stone.
Macael-born, he has been in Mojácar for 23 years. Here, he says, he has found his place, and it is where he wants to be, although he frequently goes back to Macael in search of the raw material for his works: marble, and if possible Macael white, his preferred stone.
Reluctant to exhibit his work, he is not an exhibition regular, which makes his participation in this exhibition even more valuable. Juan Alonso is an intimist artist. A stonemason by profession, stone is his life. He gives demonstrations, only in his shop, and has been a master stonemason in Almería.
His work is sentiments that slip through the hands when he creates a sculpture. He starts to work and his sensations lead to the final result; to give life and form to his art.
Luz del Sur will remain open to the public in the La Fuente Municipal Art Centre until the 30th June. Entry is free, and it can be visited Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 2pm.
