Concept and participating artists
Oficina Municipal de Turismo de Ulldecona
Collaboration between: De Souza Gallery and Casa del Dragon
Frederick de Souza: Movil: 630 882045, Email: info@desouzagallery.com
Exhibition Dates: 1 Julio 2023 – 31 Julio 2023
Inauguration: Friday 30th June, 19 – 21hr
Air. Water. Earth. Fire.
This is an exhibition which deals with the elements, specifically the real or imagined “5th element”. According to film maker Luc Besson it is “Space”, but to the Greeks it was “Spirit”. Heinrich Cornelius, aka Agrippa von Nettesheim, author of three books of occult philosophy, said: “Anyone who knows the properties of the elements and their mixtures will easily achieve wonderful and amazing things and be a consummate master of natural magic”. Artists are natural magicians, conjuring up images and objects from thin air. In this show they reflect on the original four elements which have been the ordering principles of our world for centuries and provide us with the fifth element: Art.
We present 14 artists from diverse art styles, mediums and techniques, including:
Paintings:
Josie McCoy was born in Plymouth, UK and currently lives in Valencia, Spain. She graduated from the MA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martin’s, London in 1999, and has since widely exhibited her portraits of characters from the world of film, television and music. McCoy’s paintings are included in private and public collections including the BBC, Standard Chartered Bank and the Borchard Collection of British Self-Portraits in the 20th Century. Her work was shortlisted for the Castellón International Painting Prize and selected four times for the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She was awarded first prize for the Centre of Attention Painting Prize and recently exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer show, London.
Marie Julou (aka Tina McCallan) is a graduate in painting from the Royal Academy of Arts in London and a recipient of a DAAD scholarship to study at the Academy Dusseldorf with Gunter Uecker. She has produced paintings, film, installations and collaborative painting projects called Re-creations. She has been commissioned to organise these projects in museums and institutions such as the National Gallery, London, the United Nations Lebanon and the Museo de Bellas Artes, Valencia. McCallan combines undertaking these very public collaborative projects with the more private painting practice (under the name of Marie Julou) in her studio in Russafa, Valencia, Spain. She has exhibited her paintings and Installations in London, Leipzig, Mauritius, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Valencia and Florence. In 2022 she curated ,” Relics of Futures Past” a show with 12 Artists at La Joya Space in Valencia, Spain and “Dirty Pink” a show of 16 female artists, at Il Convention in Florence, Italy.
Francesca Ricci Born in Florence, Italy, where she graduated in Stage Design at the Fine Arts Academy, lived in London for many years, before moving to Valencia, Spain, where she currently lives and works. With writer Kiril Bozhinov she has developed two projects and bodies of work, I Beg You to Hear Me! (2011-15), and Tabula Impressa (2013-ongoing) which have been exhibited and presented internationally in UK, Italy, Hungary and Spain. Tabula Impressa was featured in Abraxas Journal (2013) and mentioned in Dazed and Confused (2013). She has also exhibited internationally in many group shows. Recent shows include ‘100×100’, SIncresis Gallery, Empoli, Florence and ‘Play and Compassion’, Kingshill House, Dursley (2023); Dirty Pink Florence, Laboratorio 13 Spazio d’Arte, il Conventino, Florence; Cartography of Care, Edinburgh Palette, Edinburgh; Come Home, De Souza Gallery Summer Exhibition, Casa del Dragón, Cervera del Maestre, Castellón; Palinopsia: Josie McCoy & Francesca Ricci, The RW Project, Valencia, all 2022.
J.Kesín is a German artist based in Spain and the UK, working mainly with oil and acrylics. He has an MA in Applied Cultural Studies from the university of Lueneburg and more recently finished a three-year course in painting with Sibylle Werkmeister. In the last few years Kesin has been exhibiting in Spain and his works have sold to individual and institutional collectors throughout Europe.
Geanina Miler, lives and works in La Senia, Castellon. She is a young painter of Romanian – German heritage, with a long artistic career. Miler is a member of the Spanish Association of Painters and Sculptors (AEPE), and was elected president of the Benicarló Art Association of painters in 2015. In 2015 she was also awarded the medal of honour for the work, ‘Painting is Life’ (Barcelona). Her paintings have been exhibited in museums and foundations including Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera, the Coliseuno of Villaviciosa de Odon in Madrid, the Guard Corps of Peñíscola Castle, as well as in Brussels and Romania.
Installation works and sculptures:
Sonia Domenech lives and works in St Jorge, Castellon. She earned her BA in Fine Art Painting at the Universidad de Bellas Artes (Sant Jordi), Barcelona in 2000, including sculpture under the renowned sculptor Salvador Jassans. Following this, she graduated in Specialized Audiovisual Communications and Multimedia. She was selected for the Artist Residence Association Saint Henri in France, where she further developed her love of painting, working with water colours, oils and acrylics. Her work is framed within abstract symbolism. The circle as a universal symbol and the encounter between the aesthetic philosophy of western and eastern discourse, have been a major part of her artistic journey. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally including, France, Germany, and Spain.
Celia Kettle is a British-born artist, living and working in Valencia, Spain, whose fascination for painting circles was inspired by the imprint left by a wine glass. This went on to develop, from a metaphor of the individual, into a concern for ecological stability. She graduated in Fine Art from Middlesex University, after also having studied at Camberwell School of Art and The University of Valencia. She has shown work at the National Gallery, London, The Spilt Milk Gallery, Edinburgh and at the art fair Artist 360º, Madrid; while also showing individually at Espacio Ronda Valencia and La Casa de La Cultura, Alzira.
Born in Barcelona, Elena Martí studied at the School of Applied Arts and Artistic Crafts of the Barcelona Provincial Council. She attended different schools and workshops, that of the painter Pere Cara, the Escola Sanvisens, and the workshop of the sculptor Maño. She currently resides in Valencia where she has her workshop in the Russafa neighbourhood.
She has participated in numerous collective and individual exhibitions, including the Antonio Pérez de Cuenca Foundation, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Paris, London, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, and Slovakia. She has received the Francesc Galí prize (Barcelona Provincial Council), was selected in La Bienal de Manises, in the Sanvisens de Sitges Barcelona contest and in Art Nostre. In 2013 she was named ‘Artist for Nature’, by the Institut Valencià d’Excursionisme i Natura. In 2018 she was selected by the Jarit Civil Association, to participate in a project of artistic interventions in Algeria, for the installation on posidonia ‘Out of place’ (La Mar de fragíla), an installation acquired in 2020 by the Col·lecció d ‘Contemporary Art of the Valencian Generalitat. In 2020, she was selected by El Consorci de Museus in the #CMCVaCasa Cultura Online call with the video “Vulnerable”.
Eco-sculpture Award 2022 awarded by the Faculty of Magisteri i Ciencies Socials of Valencia.
Michael Ley has been a creative force in Berlin since 1988, working as a graphic designer, print-maker, and publisher. After a life-altering cancer operation in 2002, Ley began to explore themes of life, illness, and violence, but soon his passion for nature, and trees in particular, emerged. Trees as a symbol of vitality reflect Ley’s own creative spirit. His unique design language has made him a hidden champion in professional circles. This exhibition marks Ley’s first showing in Spain.
Juan Petry is a Catalan/ German artist working in the field of social sculpture. Petry invites people to new creative experiences and the works of art arise through the personal involvement of the participants. Petry has been operating in the traditional art market, as well as more alternative models for more than 35 years. He is the founder of the gallery Casa del Dragon, Cervera del Maestre and of the European art network EL-DRAC. More recently he started the first colour garden, as part of sevengardens.eu, a UNESCO certified project in Spain. His works appear in private collections and museums throughout Europe.
Isabel Serrano was born in Sant Vicenç de Montalt (Barcelona) in 1955. She has lived in Barcelona, Alella and Olivella, and has now been living in Vinaròs for 40 years. She studied Applied Arts and Artistic Crafts at the Pau Gargallo School in Badalona. She later studied sculpture with the sculptor Puiggali. Since then, she has taught in different schools and workshops. In 1999 she made the 160 triptychs and the Hall mural for the Hotel Vinarós, and later, several paintings for the Hotel Agora in Peñíscola. Her work has been exhibited since 1977 in Spain and Germany.
Rosa Soriano studied Fine Arts in Valencia, graduating in the specialty of engraving and printing (93-95). Since 1996, she has combined her teaching activity with her artistic creation. She has collaborated with the artistic group ArteenRed in several exhibition projects, always with a common binding theme, referring to the Valencian cultural heritage.
She has also participated in the editions of “La isla-revista-objeto” for the Madrid print fair, 2020 and with “Masdearte” magazine and its project “Palabras de ida i vuelta” for the ARCO fair, Madrid, 2011. In 2022 her work was selected for the Hospitales de Llobregat Artist’s Book Festival.
Rolf Habel is a true embodiment of the modern artist, with a wide range of talents including painting, printmaking, music, acting, and teaching. He has been a frequent visitor to the CASAdelDRAGON in Cervera del Maestre, and has found a special connection to the Maestrazgo. Despite facing difficult times, such as the devastating Ahr flood which cost him all his possessions, Habel has persevered and grown stronger and more precise in his artistic expression.
Habel has taken part in more than 100 exhibitions in Europe over the last 40 years.
Renate Brändlein was born in 1943 in Rheinland, near Düsseldorf. She received artistic training from 1964 to 1967 at the Higher School of Pedagogy in the city of Neuss under Professor Hans Ostendorf. After working as a primary school teacher until the year 2000, she dedicated herself as an independent artist to painting and sculpture. She has been a member of the Gelsenkirchen Association of Artists since 2004. Since 2007 she has been dedicated to organising the interaction between German and Spanish artists with exhibitions in both countries. She has her Gallery / Workshop “Artdepot” in Gelsenkirchen. Renate has exhibited her works in Germany, Spain, Croatia and the USA.
De Souza Gallery and Casa del Dragon
De Souza Gallery was formed as an extension to the artist residence and gallery, Casa del Dragon and the European art network EL-DRAC which were established in 2007 in Cervera del Maestre.
The gallery promotes contemporary art of diverse styles and mediums with a particular focus on social and environmental issues, including the local community and habitat.
While developing a strong local presence, the gallery supports national and international exhibitions and events in collaboration with other galleries and organisations that complement its program, values and goals.
Currently, the gallery represents consolidated and emerging European artists of Spanish, French, German, Italian & English nationalities based locally in Cervera del Maestre and in the Valencian Community.