You can contact us by:
Rocio Castro. Communication Department.
December 22, 2014
Seville, 18 December 2014- The Focus-Abengoa Foundation today opened the exhibition of the works selected in the Focus-Abengoa International Painting Prize 2014, which features 27 works of art by finalists and prize-winners. The opening ceremony was attended by Felipe Benjumea, Chairman of Abengoa and its Foundation; and Anabel Morillo, Director General of the Foundation; the members of the jury and the prize-winners in this edition, Óscar Seco, Helí García y Koldo Etxebarria Etxebarria.
The exhibition, which will be open to the public until 8 March 2015, gives pride of place to the work by Óscar Seco (Madrid, 1964) entitled Little Nemo in Secoland, which won the 31st edition of the Painting Prize. It also features the works by Helí García (Granada, 1983), entitled Naturaleza muerta con árbol (Paysage de Saint-Martin) and Koldo Etxebarria Etxebarria (Vizcaya, 1960), entitled Belleza más allá de las formas, received runners-up prizes. The prize-winning works will form part of the Focus-Abengoa Contemporary Art Collection that consists of paintings, sculptures and graphic works and which already contains pieces by Antonio López, Botero, Carmen Laffon and Gustavo Torner, among others.
The exhibition also includes the work by Greta López-Chicheri García, entitled Desde las plataneras VI, to which the jury gave special mention and is among the selected works.
At the opening of the exhibition, Felipe Benjumea congratulated Óscar Seco and the other finalists, whom he praised for “the hope and trust they have placed in the Prize”, as well as for “the indisputable quality of the works submitted”. He went on to reiterate that the Painting Prize “is a clear example of the Foundation’s firm commitment to promoting fine arts and creative young artists”, supported by the objectivity and diligence of the jury.
The jury of the 31st edition of the prize was chaired by Anabel Morillo León, Director General of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, and comprised Jaime Brihuega Sierra, Juan Carrete Parrondo, Juan Fernández Lacomba, Álvaro Fernández-Villaverde y de Silva, Guillermo Pérez Villalta, Manuel Sánchez Arcenegui and Juan Suárez Ávila. A total of 477 works were submitted on this occasion, of which 134 came from artists outside of Spain.
The exhibition of the finalists’ and prize-winners’ works will be open to the public from Friday 19 December, between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm, and 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm, at the Hospital de los Venerables in Seville, the headquarters of the Foundation, where it will remain on show until 8 March 2015. Entry to the exhibition is free. The Foundation offers a program of educational activities aimed at students, young people, families and the general public.
The Focus-Abengoa International Painting Prize, which has a long tradition and a prestigious reputation, has been held for 31 years and has become one of the foremost European and American awards in the art world. This international prize reflects the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to contemporary art and the interests and wishes of its founders, helping to promote an exchange of artistic experiences beyond our borders.
The Focus-Abengoa Foundation has always expressed a clear interest in all cultural activities, not only in those directly connected to the city of Seville, but all artistic, literary and scientific expressions at a national and international level.
Focus-Abengoa Foundation
The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was created in 1982 as a result of the cultural work begun in 1972 by Abengoa with the publication of the works Temas Sevillanos (Themes of Seville) and Iconografía de Sevilla (Iconography of Seville). A collection of documents, books and engravings on the Kingdom of Seville and by Sevillian authors was created during the same period. This initial cultural work showed Abengoa’s directors the importance of the company’s involvement in activities that directly benefit society, beyond the firm’s core technology work, which led to the creation of the Seville Cultural Fund Foundation. The Hospital de los Venerables, a 17th century monument and the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation in Seville, has housed the Diego Velázquez Research Centre, a leading institution for studying and disseminating the Baroque era and the Sevillian period of this universally renowned artist, since the acquisition of Velázquez’s “Santa Rufina” by the Foundation in 2007. The focus on this crucial era of the Golden Age is complemented with the legacy from Professor Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, bequeathed to the Foundation in 2011. It comprises his library, photo library, personal archive and art collection and is being catalogued to help create a library specialising in the art and culture of the Baroque period. http://focus.abengoa.es/
Information about the prize-winners
Óscar Seco (Madrid, 1964). Artist and illustrator, he graduated in Fine Art from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He also studied at the “Arte Actual” workshop taught by Rafols Casamada at the Círculo de Bellas Artes academy in 1984.
His artistic work contains a major narrative component, and veers between illustration and animation through micro-narratives, in some cases with a historical theme.
His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums in Spain (Galería Blanca Soto Madrid, Galería Ferrán Cano Barcelona, Galería Valle Orti Valencia, Galería T20 Murcia, Galería Ferrán Cano Palma de Mallorca, Galería Trinta Santiago de Compostela...) and at international fairs (Red Dot Fair London, Arco Madrid, Diva Paris, Arteba Argentina, Scope Miami, Art Cologne, Diva New York, Balelatina Basel). His work can be seen in collections such as Art and Nature, La Caixa Foundation and the Reina Sofía National Art Centre.
He has received numerous distinctions including the Aranjuez Town Council Award (Madrid), Wellington Foundation Award (Madrid), Alicante Provincial Government National Award, 1st Caja España Award, Torrelodones Town Council and Casino de Madrid Award, First Prize in the Unipublic Competition, Madrid. Infographics Award from the Madrid Regional Government (in partnership with J. Solano), Award for a work in the 4th U.N.E.D. Painting Competition, 1994, Casa de Velázquez, and the Acquisition Award for a work at the 12th National Fine Arts Fair.
Helí García Martínez (Granada, 1983). She studied art in her final years at school in Granada before obtaining a degree in Fine Art in the same city. She finished her training at the Akademia Sztuk Pieknych in Poznan (Poland) thanks to an Erasmus scholarship.
Her distinctions include the 2009 Alonso Cano Painting Award from Granada University; First Prize in the 3rd Ramón Portillo-Ciudad de Motril painting competition; First Prize in the 13th La Latina Youth Art Competition, Madrid; Second Prize in the 27th Villanueva del Trabuco National Painting Competition (Malaga) and Second Prize in the 9th Plastic Arts Youth Competition in Granada.
She has held a number of one solo exhibitions, including Zooliloquios at the Miscelanea Gallery in Barcelona this year; Zoografía e histeria in the BAT Alberto Cornejo Gallery in Madrid in 2013; and Del terreno hecho paisaje, in the Centr d'Art La Rectoria in Barcelona in 2007. She has also taken part in several group exhibitions since 2005.
Koldo Etxebarria Etxebarria (Vizcaya, 1960). He studied Fine Art at the University of the Basque Country, and on receiving his degree in 1983 joined the art department of Euskal Telebista. The artist has chosen new technologies as his means of graphic expression. Using 3D design and animation programs –and through trial and error– he has forged a new field of graphic creation.
He is the winner of several awards including the ex aequo Fine Arts Award from the Basque Country Association of Civil Engineers in 2012; the Ixatxak Award for an Artistic Career from the Centro San José in 2011; and the National Painting Competition Award, Art and Technology, Carsa-Arte in 2002, 2005 and 2007.
Useful details:
Opening times
Every day from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm and from 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm.
Last entry 30 minutes before closing.
Ticket prices
Free entry
Educational activities with prior reservation on 902 091 137
Workshop-visits for school children and guided tours for the general public
Family visits on Saturdays
Abengoa employees and their families on Sundays, with prior registration on the Foundation’s website at www.focus.abengoa.es
T +34 954 56 26 96
F +34 954 56 45 95
focus@abengoa.com
For more information:
Communication Department:
Patricia Malo de Molina Meléndez.
Tel: +34 954 93 71 11
E-mail: comunicacion@abengoa.com
You can follow us on:
And in our blog: http://www.laenergiadelcambio.com
Print