Manolo BallesterosGEOMETRY AND FINENESS
By Eudald Camps
Photo Javier Almar
Manolo Ballesteros (Barcelona, 1965) looks more towards the outdoors than to home. Perhaps this is why he ended up choosing the Empordà to live and work: it is a place that offers incomparable peace of mind. Somewhat beyond the alienating dynamics of the city, his family home in Vilatenim is the setting where his paintings occupy the space, slowly but without pause. He paints the space and sculpts what is visible: his recent works show us an expanded craft that, deep down, is synonymous with maturity. |
PlaymodesDIVINE LIGHT
By Gisela Chillida
Photo Eloi Maduell
Playmodes es un estudio de investigación audiovisual que trabaja con tecnologías personalizadas y herramientas de código abierto donde la mezcla de creatividad, software y hardware da lugar a instalaciones inmersivas, mapping de proyección, iluminación de edificios, escenografía digital, instrumentos audiovisuales y diseño sonoro. |
Lídia MasllorensLIVING IN PAINTING
By Eudald Camps
Photo Andrea Ferrés
Exactly one decade ago, just before winning the Vila Casas Foundation Painting Prize (2013), the artist Lídia Masllorens, proving to be light years away from any form of shrill egocentrism, defined herself as follows: "I was born in Caldes de Malavella in 1967. I currently live in Cassà de la Selva and work as an art teacher at the high school in Llagostera. I earned a Fine Arts Degree in 1991. I have expanded my painting studies with photography, engraving, stone sculptures, and large format sculptures." |
Enric AuquerA TALENT FROM THE EMPORDÀ
By Thaïs Botinas
Photo Javier Almar
"The actor of the day," "a rare find in cinema who only comes along every so often," "truly sets the scene." All this and more has been said about Enric Auquer, an actor who has won a Goya award, an Ondas award, and three Feroz awards over the past two years. He is a force on stage, a natural talent about whom we will undoubtedly continue to hear a great deal. And we're lucky that he's from here, a true Empordà local. We're also fortunate that he's approachable, sensitive, and caring. He's professional yet laid back all at the same time. He's the type of person who exaggerates his flaws and shows them to you so openly that they become virtues. |
Joana SantamansRESCATANDO EL OFICIO DE PINTOR
By Emma Aixalà
Photo Andrea Ferrés
Nos ha cautivado con un bestiario precioso que nos mira directamente a los ojos. Hoy lo hace con una conversación en su casa, en un pequeño pueblo del Alt Empordà. La pintora Joana Santamans dice estar en un momento de reflexión, de mirar y remirar, de darse tiempo para sentir qué quiere. Con una melodía de piano y la carcajada de su hija de fondo, confiesa que le llega todo lo que proyecta en el universo. |
Marta CarolaTHE WOMAN FROM THE ALBERA
By Emma Aixalà
Photo Andrea Ferrés
She has a noble, transparent, silent, and discreet gaze illuminated by the light from the mountains she calls home where she is committed to a species that is in danger of extinction, the Albera cow.
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Núria ComamalaLANGUAGE TEACHER
By Emma Aixalà
Photo Javi Almar
Núria is a linguist who has lived abroad and understands what not knowing the language of your adopted land means. That's why she created the school www.nuriacomamala.com, offering online Catalan and Spanish classes to foreigners who have settled in Catalonia. |
Javier GarcésAND THE HOOPOE’S FLIGHT
By Eudald Camps
Photo Javier Almar
Javier Garcés (Zaragoza, 1959) has it really clear: “Although it’s very important, being able to make things is only a part of it… What’s necessary, primarily, is to be able to look.” Besides this statement of principles what remains is to choose your vehicle and if painting is your medium of choice, as a contemporary artist it’s not the easiest path, as Garcés can testify. |
Jordi Pigem«VITAL INTELLIGENCE»
By Gabriel Ventura
Photo Andrea Ferrés
Post-materialism is a term that has been used by sociologists for more than 40 years to describe certain values focused on human participation, interest in ecology and respect for diversity, in contrast to the so called materialistic values, centered in economic and military security. |
Enric PladevallENCRYPTING THE DREAM
By Eudald Camps
Photo Yayoi Sawada
At the turn of the century, Enric Pladevall (Vic, 1951) decided to focus all his efforts on creating l’Olivar, a space aiming to blend art and nature in Ventalló at the heart of the Empordà. His life project (www.lolivar.cat) was committed to multiple creative disciplines through integration with the countryside. His tenacity, combined with his restless artistic gaze that does not settle for the immediate, led him to reinforce the initial project with a crypt (www.cripta.cat). This installation is a corollary to an entire lifetime of projects that often involve an unlikely fusion between a nearly minimalist artistic sensitivity and scenography that flirts with overindulgence when necessary: Pladevall in his purest state. |
