Inauguration of Magda Esterli (March 12th 2010)
Magda Esterli inaugurates her exhibition “The Sea dresses up for a party”. Magda has fascinated us with her skill: she indistinctly paints with watercolours and oil. A remarkable case! We were under the impression of assisting to two different inaugurations: in the number 1 Hall we could admire Esterli’s oils; in the number 2 Hall (lower floor) her watercolours. She explained us the reason for this modus operandi…
Magda Esterli has a lot of friends. And people respond to her friendship: this has been one of the occasions when the Rusiñol Gallery has had one of the most crowded inaugurations. Pictures do not cheat. Faces were reflecting joy and illusion for Magda’s success.
«When coming to this gallery I have seen in Santa Maria street some posters -with a red triangle such as the ones we can see in high-voltage transformers- that said: “The youth from Sant Cugat have no future”. I was surprised for I find them rather objectionable. Maybe they do not have a past or a present, but they all have their future, because it is up to us to build it up ourselves our future. This is what Magda has done: her father went to work to Valladolid, and when she was five years old they came back. Now she is a Catalan artist who understands the sea as something active, as an example of a fight of the people with respect to what has been established». 
«I think Magda Esterli is currently in a very interesting creative spell, for after many years of learning at the studios of outstanding painters -I think it fair to remember Josep M. Martinez Lozano, always so inclined to help others with thespread of his creativity whether with oils or water-colours – and through many exhibitions that reaffirmed her inherent sense of dialogue, she has found a way of doing that makes her excel within our plastic arts» (by Josep Mª Cadena).
After a few words of thanks, Magda answered some of the questions from the audience. -«Has it been difficult for you to introduce yourself in the market being a woman?». -«No, because my painting misleads and it does not look womanly. Besides, I sign Esterli». -«You express yourself both in oil and in watercolour: why both techniques?». -«To shatter my head. I would not recommend it to anybody: I have twice more difficulties. I like painting, there should not be different techniques. Watercolour is very respectable, we must defend it; with it we can paint all kind of big paintings and deal with any subject. Watercolours are very peculiar because they will not allow any modifications. In oils it is possible to “remove and replace”, by playing with thicknesses. By using both techniques I can loosen up when I’m tired of one or the other». -«With oils you can rectify. But…, have you broken any watercolours?». -«Yes, and oils too. My husband is in charge of destroying them. Though he usually stops me. I am very impulsive, impulsivity consumes me. There are times when it is better to breach and go on; I find it difficult to leave something in abeyance to digest it …». MORE PHOTOS OF THE INAUGURATION
