Seville, September 12, 2005.- Today, at 19:00 hours, the Focus-Abengoa Foundation inaugurated, in its Hospital de los Venerables headquarters, the exhibition of the paintings chosen as finalists for the Focus-Abengoa Painting Prize 2005. The Prize which, this year, has been awarded for the 22nd time, is now one of the most important painting prizes in Spain. The exhibition includes the twenty-nine works chosen as finalists in this edition – from a total of 284 that were entered by artists from Spain, the European Union, and the Americas. The exhibition will run from September 13 to October 16. There is no charge to view the exhibition.

The inauguration ceremony, which was attended by the prizewinners, was also attended by Felipe and Javier Benjumea, the Chairmen of both the Foundation and Abengoa; Anabel Morillo Leon, general manager of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, and the members of the Panel of Judges, which on this occasion was formed by Juan Carrete Parrondo, Modest Cuixart i Tápies, Juan Fernández Lacomba, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, and Manuel Sánchez Arcenegui.

Maria José Gallardo has been awarded the 24,000 euro first prize for her painting entitled N.E.N.E./ He seguido el movimiento de tus labios (N.E.N.E./ I have followed the movement of your lips). Born in Villafranca de los Barros, Badajoz, 1978, she is a graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Seville, and her specialty is Design and Print. Throughout her career, which commenced in 1999, she has had several individual exhibitions and has participated in other collective ones throughout Spain.

In addition, Kepa Garraza Alvarez, (Laukariz, Biscay, 1978), for her work entitled Estados alterados 14 (Altered states 14) and the German artist, Klaus Ohnsmann, (Manheim. Germany, 1962), for his work entitled Tiempo de duda (Time of doubt), have been awarded the 6,000 euro runner-up prizes.

These three paintings will now become part of the Focus-Abengoa Collection. Painting and graphic work, comprising more than a hundred works which are fruit of the activities carried out by the Foundation, such as the Painting Competitions, the monographic exhibitions of works by outstanding figures from the current artistic panorama, several acquisitions made by the Foundation itself and donations. In fact, in the months of May, June and July, the exhibition entitled The Focus-Abengoa Collection. Select Works was open to the public. It was an exhibition of more than thirty paintings which included works by artists such as Gustavo Torner, Fernando Botero, Carmen Laffón, Antonio López, Manuel Sánchez Arcenegui, and Juan Suárez, among others.

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was established in 1982 as a consequence of the cultural activity initiated in 1972 by Abengoa with the publishing of the works "Sevillian Topics" and "Iconography of Seville". During this same period a collection of documents, books and prints on Seville, or by Sevillian authors, was being put together. This initial cultural activity brought Abengoa's senior management to see the importance of the company being seen outside its essential technological functions through an activity that would be of benefit to society as a whole, which led to the founding of the Fundación Fondo de Cultura de Sevilla.

The Foundation's activities have been ever-increasing, while complying unwaveringly with its foundational objective of promoting culture in its different artistic and scientific manifestations. The major protagonists in the existence of Focus-Abengoa have been education, painting, restoration and music, followed closely by seminars, the written word and prints.