Opening “Dialogues with the city” by Juan Tenorio

Today we have presented the exhibition with the latest work of the artist Juan Tenorio and with which, at the same time, we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his first exhibition at the Sala Rusiñol.

A more than numerous public did not want to miss the opportunity to attend. In addition to friends, clients and followers of his painting, we were also accompanied by the writer and communicator Lluís Pascual i Bel and the guitarist Enrique Pérez Checa.

Lluís Pascual dedicated these words to the artist and his work:

The reason for this presentation is, mainly, that it should serve to give thanks.

THANKS in the first place, to Juan Tenorio, our common friend, whom I will refer to hereafter as THE ARTIST.

Although this is the fifth time he has exhibited here, and he has done many others everywhere, I know him well enough to tell you that, right now, his heart is pounding, he is nervous as a flan. Just look at that twisted pose, that feeling of not knowing what to do with his hands, Julio Iglesias style.

The fact that I know him more as a person than as an artist, although I have been following his progress for some time, means that these words have more to do with his mood and his capacity for work, although, as is evident, they are already reflected in his work.

When I look into the world of lines and forms of my friend Tenorio, I am surprised by the fact that I do not feel that I am in front of a painting to be interpreted, a painting to be understood. Rather, I perceive, inwardly, the intense reactions that they provoke in me. So do not be surprised by this lackadaisical aspect, as if we were not talking about him, the fruit of an introspection that is in the marrow of his know-how.

Because when he bursts into his paintings, it is clear that with his trace and a sober laboriousness, he manages to create what today he calls DIALOGUES WITH THE CITY, whatever it is, to discover a beauty that only sensitive eyes are able to see and transmit.

Perhaps because I am not only referring to the eyes of the face, but also to the eyes of the soul. And he does it with the same ochre backgrounds, prepared and enriched with his own personal collages, an indivisible part of the whole. Perhaps to avoid, right from the start, the fact of having to face the naked, virgin canvas, like the writer with the blank page or the musician with the score orphaned of notes.

He does it starting from dark backgrounds and line by line, with impossible vanishing points, dressing with light and color what sometimes is only intuited. And that ends in a sizzle of subtle and captivating details.

It has the omnipresent presence of those crosswalks, those minimally sketched vehicles, base and foundation to support the visual weight of the thickness of the painting. From that same rich but short palette, with tones that complement each other wisely combined, he builds American skyscrapers or perspectives of Barcelona, symbols of Paris, London, Malaga and other cities, in constant dialogue with their contours, corners and wealth of a thousand and one hidden details.

When he visits or walks through cities, he does it with a different look, breathing, smelling, putting all five senses to soak up shapes and textures, transmuting those steel and glass overcrowds, endless avenues, gigantic bridges, which later, are the essence with which he presents his work.

He is in a moment in which his artistic maturity dominates the recipe to print on the canvas, renewed results and emotions. In any pictorial construction that he builds, he ends up finding the right point of cooking, in each brushstroke, the perfect touch of balance. He is an artist with a powerful soul and temperament.

He combines the calm of experience with the wrought iron constancy of the apprentice, the vision of new horizons on the basis of origins that today, for example, he has wanted to emphasize with the guitar notes of the soundtrack in the background.

With all this, he has made magic. He has done it again. Perhaps he is not aware of what he has done alchemy. He has once again put his hands and talent in his acrylic hat and, like a conjurer, has pulled out the rabbit from a new batch of paintings, a reflection of his usual world, but none of them the same, renewed, innovative. And that this afternoon, he offers publicly for our consideration.

THANKS TO THE GALLERY OWNERS

The gallery owners pamper the exhibition, they put themselves at the service of the artist, offering him a wide, sufficient, wisely illuminated space where the painting breathes, and the tonalities and textures jump from the wall to the retina of the spectator and, directly, to his sensibility. Perhaps it is necessary, if we buy a painting, to also take with us the sconces that highlighted it and gave it life, and thus, continue to enjoy that emotion that made them fall in love.

Thanks to the Sala Rusiñol, for being there, for existing, for being perfect hosts today, in the necessary meeting of transmitter and receivers, of departure and destination of this wide world of culture that are the painted and framed works. For being nurseries of artists and offering shelter to culture, more necessary than ever.

THANKS TO THE SPECTATORS

The gaze of what we contemplate and the contemplator merge and give rise to the motive that justifies the work of the creator of the work of art. Art does not reproduce nature, but interprets it, and it is precisely in the search for these interpretations that art resides, not in the application of a servile and vain copy. Simply to see, is not to treat things, but in a totally utilitarian way.

Try the cotton test, framing with your fingers, as those who understand do, isolating any corner, especially from the great perspectives, and savor the small format, the abstraction of the simple things that make up the richness of the great spaces.

I think there are two ways to approach a painting, basically: to see it and to look at it. As there are also two ways to eat a candy: to carve it in two bites between the molars and inwards or to slowly insalivate it and let its range of sweetness pamper our tongue, palate, neck and if we give it enough time, even our heart.We hope you enjoy it deeply”.

After the speech, it was the turn to introduce the guitarist and personal friend of the artist, Enrique Pérez Checa, who accompanied us throughout the afternoon uniting two arts: music and painting.

Here are some other moments of the inauguration:

You can see the entire collection here