"My visit to La Catedral Art Gallery in Tarragona was an exceptional artistic experience that left me impressed. This gallery is much more than a cultural space; it is an artistic treasure in the heart of the monumental historic centre of Tarragona.
What impressed me most was the gallery's commitment to artistic diversity. I was able to appreciate works by both renowned and emerging artists, which creates an interesting dialogue between classical and contemporary art. The focus on up-and-coming artists is especially commendable, as it provides an invaluable platform for emerging talent.
The small museum area within the gallery is a real highlight. The careful selection of works, special lighting, ambient music and the aromas associated with the art create a unique sensory experience, I found myself deeply moved by the way the works were presented.
This gallery will undoubtedly be a must-see destination for all art lovers and a very valuable contribution to the art world in Tarragona."
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Jaime López
Director of Sustainable Art
Exhibition Curator
Barcelona
"I always thought that a space like La Galeria d'Art La Catedral in Tarragona was very necessary in this city, I consider it a wise decision on the part of its founder.
I have had the pleasure of following a little of his creative process and admiring part of the gallery's private collection, which is on display in its first days of opening.
The Gallery has the most modern advances in terms of lighting and sound, its two rooms make it a very competent and efficient space for any exhibition or event.
This Gallery will give a lot of life to art in Tarragona and opportunities to many artists of different styles".
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Antón Eguigúren
Artist Painter and Photographer
The La Catedral Gallery inaugurates its first exhibition with works that are not part of the collection of the gallery's own art fund and begins with a group show that promises to capture the attention of art lovers art and the curious. This exhibition brings together the work of 18 artists, 10 men and 8 women, with a common denominator: they were born in Tarragona around the 1950s. This eclectic group of artists, despite the diversity of interests that drives them, cultivate the technique of painting, which is the unifying element of the exhibition.
The participating artists represent a wide range of styles and techniques, from expressionism to surrealism, through figuration and abstraction. Although painting is the predominant medium used to express their artistic visions, in some cases they have also explored other techniques of expression such as engraving, sculpture or photography, in many cases with a link to the territory and the landscape of the Tarragona counties. A link that, if not obvious in the themes, is present in the texture or the colors, with the blues of the sea, the greens of the pine forests and the ochres of the facades, paths and stones.
Among the participants in the show are Xavier Aluja, Myriam Arnold, Teresa Baena, Claudio Bonachí, Emma Dominguez, Tito Figueras, Eduard Fortuny, Ethel Marti, Màrius Masip (Màrius Art), Carmen Pi, Jaume Queralt, María Jose Ripoll, Vicky Roldan, Josep María Rosselló, Pere Joan Salas, Maria Jose Sánchez Iranzo, Antoni Tomàs Torne and Tomàs Valls Bigorra. All of them, recognized active artists, in many cases with an open workshop in the city of Tarragona. Each of the participants has selected a work with which they feel represented and which they show on this special occasion.
The set offers a varied and enriching vision of the artistic creation of a generation, that of the fifties and early sixties, with a canon that looks for well-studied compositions, with lights, shadows, penumbras and changing colors, with free brushwork in some cases or more studied in others, which defines shapes and fields of color that relate to each other, dialoguing in a juxtaposed or complementary way.
In addition to their own experiences and personal experiences, the work of these creators also receives the impact and inspiration of previous generations of artists from Camp de Tarragona. In a list, drawn up more in pencil than what you want, we should include Francesc Todó, Teresa Llàcer, Magda Folch, Antoni Gonzalo Lindín, Josep Icart, Antoni Pedrola, Josep Sancho Piqué, Josep Nogué, Lluís M. Saumells, Ferran Arasa, Francesc Gimeno, Daniel Argimon, Mariano Rubio or Josep Maria Morató Aragonès. Reflecting among the pieces in the exhibition, you will find their influences - sometimes more obvious, sometimes more subtle, sometimes simply the result of the poetic and subjective point of view of this critic - in the treatment of light and the color, in the markedly horizontal and stylized figures. It should also be noted the inclusion of various abstract forms to represent fully or partially real elements: here the points of contact with Gonzalo Lindín, Pedrola or Icart are more obvious.
The exhibition also raises broader questions about the meaning and nature of creation in the contemporary context. With the massive and sometimes indiscriminate use of the term "creation" in sectors such as marketing and popular culture, a debate is opening up about its true meaning and value. In a context where culture, art and other aspects of everyday life have been commercialized and crumbled to become mere commodities, we users receive the final product, the work produced, without having any record of where come, the place and the creator are accessories, art and creation in general is depersonalized. The exhibition brought to us by Galeria La Catedral explores other more subtle ways, where proximity, contact with the author and the process, has a key value. As Ezequiel Soriano states (in "First of all, how are the machines?" published in the CCCB Lab magazine of October 10, 2023), "There is a way to understand creativity that is not based on final object nor is it associated with the idea of doing something innovative or original, which allows us to think about art beyond the self, the author and the logos. This form of creativity is not linked to doing but to experiencing; instead of being defined by the creation of a product, it is defined by what is intrinsically creative in life”.
This inaugural exhibition not only serves as a platform for the dissemination of these local talents, but also represents a moment of reflection and celebration of art and culture in Tarragona. It is an opportunity for the public to immerse themselves in the various expressions of creativity and imagination, and to connect with the rich local artistic tradition. Ultimately, this exhibition, which is also a tribute to know-how and persistence, highlights the importance of art as a means of communication, expression and reflection in today's world.
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MARIUS DOMINGO
Art critic and independent curator.
Member of ACCA (Catalan Association of Art Critics) and AICA (International Association of Art Critics)
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