Mediterranean light

Mediterranean light

EVRIMA YACHT – RCYC / ENTERPRICE& ART
From August 12th to October 31st, 2023

 

From August 12, four of my recent paintings are on display in a travelling exhibition in the Mediterranean Sea , called “Mediterranean light”, on board the Evrima Yacht, Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection in collaboration with Enterprice & Art. I share the exhibition with the Ukranian painter Tatiana An.

Mediterranean light

The way the sunlight reflects off the shiny silvery blue Mediterranean Sea creates unique, vibrant colors at different times of the day. Over the centuries, many artists have resided in the European and North African cities on the Mediterranean coast, to capture this light falls in their paintings.

Impressionists such as Claude Monet (1840-1926) were among the first to extensively travel along the Mediterranean coast to paint its wonders. Post-impressionists such as Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and pointillist Paul Signac (1863-1935) soon followed to capture the vivid landscapes of the Italian, Spanish and French Rivieras. The Impressionists and pointillists sought to express their perceptions of nature, rather than create exact representations. The invention of the paint tube – previously oil paints had to be made by hand, preventing artists from leaving their studios – brought new bright colors and the freedom to paint anywhere at any time of day. This played a key role in the development of modern art.

Today, the Mediterranean continues to fascinate artists. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection presents the duo exhibition ‘Mediterranean light’ on board the Evrima showcasing Spanish artist Javier Aoiz Orduna (1964, Madrid) and Ukrainian artist Tatiana An (1961, Kyiv). In their own way, both artists paint the presence or absence of light in the (urban) Mediterranean landscape. Aoiz Orduna’s artistic practice is framed within the figurative. It is representative of the everyday beauty that he experiences in each place he visits, capturing it through different solar filters. For An, it was the image of nature right before sunset, when the full spectrum of warm and cold colors can be seen. This inspired the contrast and forms in her work, that is often associated with Magic Realism.

With bright colors and expressive brushstrokes, Javier Aoiz Orduna and Tatiana An both capture the warm glow of the sunset, the dusky light of twilight or the early morning sun of the Mediterranean in the tradition of the Impressionists and Pointillists before them.

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Four of my landscapes, two Spanish cities such as Peñíscola and Cádiz, and two Moroccan kasbash, can be enjoyed in the exhibition room on board the Evrima Yacht:

01. PEÑÍSCOLA, 2019, acrylic on canvas, W 81 x H 100 cm
This painting depicts a landscape that is both a cityscape and a marina. In it, the Levan+ne town of Peñiscola, with its sunny white houses, imposing castle and walls, spills down the hill towards the sea that surrounds it. A summery Mediterranean of an intense greenish blue, which seems to invite the viewer to bathe in its waters, is in the foreground of the pain+ng and stands out as the main colour in this painting. The ochre, white, sienna, and warm yellow tones of the buildings contrast with the large turquoise blue plane of the sea. A sea whose white, violet, and earthy waves break against the sand of the beach, which crosses the lower part of the canvas diagonally. A refreshing summer canvas.

 

 

02. CÁDIZ I, 2022, acrylic on canvas, W 81 x H 100c m
Cadiz, nicknamed “la tacita de plata” (the little silver cup), bathed in the intense summer light, leaves no one indifferent and invites the traveler to repeat the visit frequently. The sea breeze moves the waves and refreshes the atmosphere on the yellow beach that opens in the foreground, bathed by the sun, without shadows. The hustle and bustle of Cadiz life can be seen in the streets. In the background, behind the Malecon, the beautiful buildings of the city painted in bright colours, the white towers and the golden dome of its cathedral raise their hues to the sky. A nice city that stands out for its beauty and for the joie de vivre of its people.

 

 

03. KASBAH BETWEEN TWO LIGHTS, 2008, acrylic on canvas, W 50 x H 50 cm

This painting and its companion piece are part of a series of pictures of Moroccan landscapes and places under the title “So near, so far”, which I have been painting with great success since my first visit to the Maghreb country in the summer of 1998. In these paintings I have tried to depict the beauty of its villages, people, and places. Also, the unmitigated austere beauty of its kasbash, as mythical places. And the points that bring us closer and distance us, as neighbouring countries that, despite our differences, have so many things in common: the sun, the sea, the light, the oranges…

In this painting, one of the suggestive Moroccan kasbash is depicted, painted at dusk, in the stillness of the late afernoon, when the colours of the landscape turn bluish and grey, and the coolness returns to the valley.

 

04. KASBAH AT MIDDAY, 2017, acrylic on canvas, W 50 x H 50 cm
This painting reflects the pressing heat of a kasbah bathed in the intense midday light, surrounded by arid, eroded mountains and the greenery of palm trees, a veritable oasis along the Rif. There are no people to be seen in the streets, sheltered in the coolness of their adobe houses. The white-domed minarets rise to the sky as the call to Friday prayers is heard. The unadorned beauty of Morocco’s evocative Rif towns, a delight to the eye and the senses.

 

This exhibition on board the Evrima Yacht  can be enjoyed until 31 October 2023.

 

PAINTINGS ON EXHIBITION:

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)