JOSE MANUEL MERELLO
|
JOSÉ MANUEL MERELLO
CONTACT and INFORMATION:
© José Manuel Merello. All rights reserved.
|
CONTACT
|
Mujer esencial.
Mix media on paper.
Florero rosa con girasol. (100 x 81 cm) Mix media on canvas.
Jarrón con Flores de la Pasión. (100 x 81 cm) Mix media on canvas.
Niño Marinero. (73 x 54 cm) Mix media on canvas.
|
Florero Valenciano.
(100 x 81 cm)
Mix media on canvas.
Mujer con pajarito azul
(92 x 73 cm)
|
|
Muchacha con corazón
Oil on wood.
Thoughts about art and painting.
" 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
"Abstract Painting and Surrealist Painting, apart from being
essential and marvelous in themselves, these days also fulfill an
invaluable pedagogical function for any artist. The have now become
part of Classical Art and are the Artistic Heritage for Spiritual
Learning and Artistic technique. They are like gymnastics for the
unaware and for the eye, providing places where almost all feelings
and spiritual emotions can be hatched to finally lead to build this
immeasurable and grandiose thing we call THE ART of PAINTING." ©
José Manuel Merello
"A good drawing cannot in any way be
unfavorably compared with a good painting. It is more, beneath every
picture is an essential underlying drawing that sustains it, a
skeleton that mobilizes it and gives it form. Any painting lacking
of this base crumbles and appears flimsy." © José Manuel Merello
" The drawing does not remain defined by the line, not even the
painting remains defined by the color. The painting is still saved,
and this is partly what currently defines it, of being able to be
assimilated and comprising in a monitor or a photo. On the other
hand the drawing does really is asimilable by these means. Leaving
aside fetishisms, it does not matter to me to have an original
drawing or a photo or an identical poster of him. It is the same
thing and the drawing can be enjoyed identically, as it happens
despite of reading a good book in different editions, or seeing the
same photo revealed for the second or tenth time. When it is not in
game neither the fetishism nor the plasticity, all these supports
take us to the nobility - or misery - of the work. But in painting
the plasticity is always in game, the plasticity, the morbidity, the
opaqueness or the transparence, the brilliant or dull surface...
qualities that are impossible to be transmitted by means of a
monitor of computer, a TV or a poster. The digital technique, far
from ruining the arts, it only does to demonstrate the singularities
of these other techniques, and the painting gains the garland due to
currently it is impossible to enjoy completely The Meninas in an
image, impossible to feel the powerful sensation of gap of the stay
where Velázquez does, impossibly to perceive the pearly rind of the
pictorial layer of the picture, useless to turned oneself and to see
sideway to be able to feel the delicate nodes and stretch marks of
the painting of the genius. And let's not say anything about
pictures of Tàpies, or of Lucian Freud, or of Jasper Johns... The
color and the disposition of the forms can suggest us very much, of
course, but they remain far away, they are not enough to express the
plasticity of the picture. This is the Painting." © José Manuel
Merello
" In painting and in drawing, technically speaking, things can
be wrong done if they do not know how to make them correctly, but
the bad made things must be "perfectly wrong made". This way the
result will always be good. " (summer 2004) © José Manuel Merello
"Art History is the emotional and spiritual History of humankind. It
is a remembering of its most sublime feelings materialized in works
of art that transcend time. Altamira and Lascaux are primitive
examples of this human desire of expressing its emotions. In my
opinion, there is not any artistic era superior to another one in
its initial impetus to create a material proof of an emotion or a
spiritual pleasure. On the other hand, I believe there have been art
eras superior to others since the human being has improved its
technique. In the same way that scientific progress always goes up,
artistic progress, which needs technology to advance, evolves with
an increasing trend. However, this evolution is not continuous,
since it depends on two factors: technique and spiritual emotion.
Art is not just a feeling. Art is the feeling being materialized,
incarnated, sculpted, written with skill and technique. The cavemen
had only a few tools at their reach; consequently their art is more
primitive than Baroque Art, to give an example. The problem lies in
the fact that technique and emotion do not always move along
parallel lines. As a result, we can sometimes find art periods with
a greater and purer emotional and spiritual impulse, even though
they relied on inferior technique. On the other hand, we sometimes
can find other periods with better means, in which the art is weaker
due to the human soul was soured, repressed, or manipulated. When
the human spirit undergoes a sublime and free period, accompanied by
a superior technique, then we will refer to this period as a Golden
Art Age." © 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
"Nowadays, Modern Art exudes a
breath of fresh air and freedom never before imaginable. Up till
now, Art History has never had such an array of possible techniques
for artists to choose from or such a variety of artistic languages
for artists to fully express themselves. All the different Art
schools and tendencies, favoritisms aside (even though they have
always been there), enjoy a great open field that promises fabulous
creations in the coming years.
Surrealism, which was born in the
20th century as a perfectly defined art movement, is nowadays a
tendency impacted by Expressionism, Figuratism, Abstract and many
other schools of Art, which enrich Surrealism without diluting it
and enlarge Surrealism without voiding it. I opine that the borders
in art tend to vanish. It is still very complex to reflect upon this
phenomenon since we find ourselves currently in this Art
multimovement searching for the "one Art". But beware; never should
it be an imposition or an absolute movement. Art is free by nature
and it will always slip away, like water through our fingers, from
the premonitions and the horizons that we try to impose on it." ©
José Manuel Merello
“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
"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