“I plead for humility in painting. Painting does not need so much fanfare or intellectual pretension. It must come from a person’s clean soul, from the clear and pure eye of the painter, even if only a simple apple is being painted. It is for this reason that I admire Morandi so much.” © José Manuel Merello

"I detest a large part of the minimalism that is practiced today across all the arts. I'm afraid that within this alleged synthesis there is an excess of rubbish and uselessness floating around that serves only to confuse the audience, which sometimes may be ignorant but blameless, although, more frequently, intolerably pedantic, void of any understanding or knowledge."
 © José Manuel Merello

“A frame to a good painting is like a dress to a beautiful naked woman. It is not essential but serves to celebrate and give charm to the work.” © José Manuel Merello

"Spanish painting has, throughout the centuries, maintained a serene and melancholic regard: tragic but never violent. There is no such thing as violent Spanish painting. Even the most ferocious Goya or the most horrifying Picasso never lose the composure and class inherent in the brushwork." © José Manuel Merello

"Everybody asks themselves what art is. I think that art is any human creation that is able to lift the spirit to a higher plain of emotion and wonderment." © José Manuel Merello

"The Expressionist Painters, The Surrealistic ones, The Contemporary Painters in general ... and The Ancients, Figurative Painters, Abstracts, Realistics, Pop, The Greatest Painters, The Unknown ones, The Famous ones, The Genial Artists and The Artists without Genius... The Draftsmen of Comic, The Digital ones, Arrogants, Simples, Mad Painters, Rich ones, Poor Painters. It does not matter for me from where are they, Chinese or Spanish Painters; I like All the Painters around the World, I am interested in the whole painting; a simple vase, an anonymous portrait, a pretentious picture, a stupid picture, a brilliant painting: They all are Painters, All is Painting" © José Manuel Merello
"Horses and children. Fat women, beautiful women and old ladies. The magicians and poets. Dogs and cats sleeping. Bulls and Spanish bullfighters. The processions of Seville and Malaga. The crucified Christs filled with blood and prayers. The saints. A Virgin for each village. The sun and the rain of Biscay. The sea, the passion, love and art of the Mediterranean. Painting and older architecture. And the most modern. The dances and dances of the villages lost. Literature issued by the Spanish world. Deep red, purple, black and olive. The balance between the sun, moon and stars: this is the Spanish art. " ©José Manuel Merello

Art and the economical crisis
Art, as any commercial product, is noticing the same or more, since it is not an essential item, the consequences of the current economic situation. However, as in all times of change and redirection of political, economic and social paradigms, art can come out, enriched and even strengthened, of a situation like this.
In the Art world, particularly in the interpretation, actors and actresses tell that certain levels of anxiety and stress are able to awake in them the ability to concentrate and a transmission talent which they do not have in normal situations. And, what is the present time but a continuous state of turmoil and excitement? The art has been, fortunately or unfortunately, nurtured by many or all of the major episodes of human seizure; signs of this are the Picasso's Guernica or the Fusilamientos del 2 de Mayo from Goya.
Would then be currently expected to flourish great works of art or even a new art movement? Movement that could result in two very different topics, one that would focus on criticism and look to the past aiming on the events and behaviors that have led us to the current economic crisis, and another that would extoll all that nourishes and gives the human a second opportunity to reorient their economic, social and political processes, as intelligence and generosity. ©P.M. Giménez

" I am not an avant-garde artist. My art is contemporary, literally speaking: a product of its time. Vanguard, on the contrary, represents the most modern innovations – neither better nor worse; like the sharp point of a spear which opens up new paths. However, that sharp point needs all the power and weight of the rest of the spear, the weight of Art History. Without all this History, there is no push to open up new ways. Vanguard Art represents freshness, novelty, surprise, the truth and the fake. A risky and fascinating bet. However, what interests me is to draw from the classic and contemporary traditions, deepen into the walked path, and remain vigilant – like many other artists – to provide vanguard artists a solid foundation. Much in the same way as an older brother holds his youngest brother’s hand with fascination, as the intrepid child peeks, with wonderful daring and without fear, into the abyss. I need to keep an eye on the Avant-garde Movement because it keeps me young as artist, it cleanses me, it clears up my spirit, so that my view doesn’t sour. I am a part of the body of the spear and, from that vantage point, I observe with fascination the young art sharp poking at the same time that I draw from the magnificent work of the masters of all times, the powerful legacy that sustains us. I am not part of the sparkles – sometimes ephemeral – of the spearhead. Each one of us has his role, and mine, nowadays, is not in the vanguard." © José Manuel Merello

"ABOUT JOAQUÍN SOROLLLA".: Today it does not seem to be too modern speaking about Joaquín Sorolla, the great Valencian painter. But I always have refused to see in him an antiquated, impressionistic painter, luminous and little else more. Otherwise, Sorolla is one of the big ones, a titan, a Colossus of the painting. He maybe couldn’t be compared neither to a Velázquez nor to a Picasso, it would be very daring, but yes I see him at a height of a Cezanne or a Manet. Well, it is true that the work of the Valencian one is very unequal in quality and is paying for decades for this discontinuity in such way that only very few people can rescue between his painting those linens which catapult him towards the Olympus: Sorolla's white linens." © José Manuel Merello

"How will be the art in 2011 and in the near future? Freedom defines contemporary art. International art fairs are fun and intriguing, are challenges for thought and human emotion. Walking through a contemporary art fair like ARCO in Madrid, is now a mental release. You may think that what we are seeing is not "art", you may think that some artistic creations are not moral and then deduce that they are not art. But you are wrong. The art does not ever depend on morality. Any work of art owes nothing to any form of thought or ideology. The human spirit is free. Art is free. The art is beyond good and evil. What is necessary is to prevent some forms of art that are violent, dangerous, dictatorial. We can not allow them because we need rules for coexistence or because it is ethically unacceptable. For example, we can turn the Amazon into a garden empty, naked, with only a tree. Sure could be a work of conceptual art, but it would be really stupid. The savagery and brutality can be handled with great skill. It would not be moral, it might be art, but should not be allowed.
Another common mistake for many visitors to ARCO is to think that there can be only paint. No. The painting is a very important part of art, but only a part. Many artists complain that there is very little paint on the contemporary art fairs. They have a point, perhaps the art galleries with paintings should be more exposed there. Modern painting or classical paintings are wonderful, a highly evolved form of art ... but Art does not need paintings for being Art. Of course, many current creations are just ephemeral art, art to think and meditate during a few minutes. And now that's a very interesting difference." ©José Manuel Merello

Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart and Marilyn. Matches.
"More nonsense. Now it's up to Van Gogh. Just a new book that speculates about his last days of life, whether he committed suicide or was accidentally killed.
I don’t have read the book, but I have read some notes like one where someone asks Vincent, who was bleeding in his bed, if he had wanted to commit suicide and he said “I think so”. And for some persons this is a enough reason to write a book because this answer might indicate that he did not pull the trigger.
This nonsense, and others cited in the book, justifies, without shame, to raise a new plot that will surely give a lot of money, because it is likely to be after converted into a film. Tangle and dig no matter what it takes, without the least respect in the life of someone who gave everything for nothing. It's disgusting this hobby to create a hieroglyph which gives morbid fascination and money for a long time. It seems to me outrageous disrespect to the generous genius.
This is the same with Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Come and see what we invented now or what we can discover in the hackneyed, heavy and nothing enigmatic smile of Donna. Hey, look, I think this hair of his hair is like a cross of a rare sect and this union of points that I see is the trail of a powerful secret means that Leonardo knew, even then, the existence of neutrinos. And on and on, nonsense after another, no matter if the Mona Lisa is a mediocre picture (beyond the use of "sfumato" as innovation), mediocre, yes, in its historical context and others it can have a bit interest but plastically is not too good. Never mind. They have already managed to become it an icon based in chatter and nonsense, and then it begins to have an interest, quite apart from its true quality. As the image of Marilyn in pop art. Nothing more. Poor Marilyn, how many people are still profiting from his image and his death. I am convinced Da Vinci would be saddened about all these matters.
Or Mozart. He and his death. Salieri and Mozart enmeshed in a tangle mesh tarnishing forever the image of the great man, making him look like drivel, like a clown in the, otherwise extraordinary, film of Milos Forman's, "Amadeus". It is always the same: to make art or intrigue whatever it costs. I always say that art does not know morality but that does not entitle us to crucify dogs or to make intrigues and cabals on humans who only made to magnify our spirit giving it all they've got.

I am very sad about people do not stop to remove the ears, bones, misery and privacy of these martyrs of art.

Please, leave them all alone."
©José Manuel Merello

"…being a painter, a writer, a sculptor or a musician does not put one at a higher rank than any other profession. There are a lot of professions that, when carried out to the extreme, without a doubt achieve a higher level than that of the majority of artists. For instance, a wonderful craftsman, a maker of Manila shawls, can go further than a mediocre sculptor; the work can be superior. Or a great soccer player can raise greater passion than most of us, painters. To be an “artist” does not guarantee anything. However, sometimes a genius is born in a way that distinguishes the great arts, along with science, philosophy or politics, from any other endeavor. We cannot compare Michael Angelo’s Sistine Chapel or Newton’s Law of Gravitation with the most amazing soccer goal. Art with capital letters is easy to detect; its light continues to shine through time.” ©José Manuel Merello

Still life with Aquarium.

 (46 x 33 cm)

Mix media on canvas

The Last Smoker.

(73 x 54 cm)

Mix media on wood

CONTEMPORARY MODERN ART. 

Spring Still Life

(81 x 130 cm)

Mix media on canvas

VIDEO ↓↓

CONTEMPORARY MODERN ART. -

Spanish Horse

(29 x 21 cm)

Ink on paper

Spanish Paella

Oil.

VIDEO ↓↓

CONTEMPORARY MODERN ART. EXPRESSIONISM....

ART 21. ART NEWS. CURRENT ART PAINTING.

Art by art 21st, new exhibitions.