The Studios are open in Gaucín! Part 2

Don’t miss it this weekend!
Walk with me on the second part!


Finally, after three years, doors of Gaucín’s studios are open again!

It’s a long tradition – on the last weekend in May and the first weekend in June 21 artists of Gaucín open the studio doors. This event attracts always a loyal and also a new audience coming as far as Málaga and Tarifa. I was very much missing it in the two years of the pandemic.

I visited the first weekend for a day – a beautiful and fulfilling day full of interesting art, lovely chats and laughter and a restful break at a small bar. There are 18 stations to visit and 21 artists exhibiting – I saw a lot, but not all though. So this is a description of my personal walk, not a full feature of all you can see. The first part of the walk I published at the 32st of May. So here you read about part two of the walk from studio to studio in Gaucín.
And not to forget:

Gaucín is not only a great place for art, a beautiful white village with views as far as Morocco on clears days but also a place of fantastic restaurants! Reserve your table!

Only this coming weekend left for visiting!

See here, what you can see the coming weekend!

The „Open Studio map“ numbers the exhibition places from 1 to 18. My description goes the other way round – at the end of my information (9 to1) you‘ll find many artists in the same building or rather near together. So if your feet are getting a bit tired, it helps to take advantage of this by changing direction. I missed some studios – as I spend a lot of time talking with the artist. So here a description of those, that I managed to visit.

Catherine Hunter

You find Catherine in the beautiful hotel “La Fructuosa by Jose”. On this walk you have the chance to get to know this hotel gem and the endearing characters which are decorating every room. This walk will lead you up to a roof terrace witch opens up to a tremendous view.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!


Jim Rattenbury

Like in the last walks, Jim installed his exhibition in the garage of a friend. That doesn’t sound exciting – but just in the contrary, it’s a fascinating and very atmospheric installation for his fantastic art works. Sculptures created from found and collected materials that develop into partly mystical or somehow ethnic figures, some like finds from a bygone world. I very much liked his painting too, that in another way leads us into a world of imaginative beings.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Jenny Collins

Jenny is a newbie to the Open Studios Gaucín but not a newbie to the village of Gaucín, where she lives since more than 6 years. This is her first appearance in the Open Studios. I really enjoy to see some new artist and their works. Jenny has a history of being a Goldsmith and a photographer. After following a small, a bit hidden and somewhat enchanted path we find her small studio, where she presents her paintings which are characterised by kind of geometric structures.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

La Huerta

La Huerta is a building that now gives your feet a little rest. Five artist are showing their works in this somehow industrial building which gives an interesting back ground to the art works.

Lesley Riddihough

From early visits to Open Studious, I remember Lesley’s bright vibrant fruit paintings. This year, as a self-confessed cat lover, I especially enjoyed the feline portraits of two particularly beautiful feline personalities, painted in Lesley’s realistic, expressive style.

#Click onto the images to enlarge! (Photos by Art Gaucín)

Marta Bernad

Invited guest artist this year is Spanish painter Marta Bernard, Master’s in Advertising Creativity, Design and Communication and more, is actually living in Estepona. She shares her pleasure of this area through her paintings with us. Marta’s paintings show bright colours and the momentum in the works. She also demonstrated her swing to us with a little dance in front of her paintings.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Chris Klees

Dutch artist Chris Klees was known to me as a photographer. This year he presents a rich work of ceramics, a new love (?), in any case an important one, as his precious works and the huge oven in his studio demonstrate.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Christine Spencer-Green

British artist Christine fills her large studio with lovely portraits of women and cats. These painting very much speak to me as her style is something between realistic and blurred. I like these inaccuracies which do not tell the story to the last point. They give the viewer a lot of room for their own additions.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Sian Faber

New Zealand artist Sian fills her studio, which has a smashing view as far as Africa, with many colourful wall sculptors. When I first got to know her in Gaucín she and her husband had shortly settled in Spain, coming from Australia. Then her exhibition room was filled with paintings on paper inspired by the floating movement of the sea. Since in Spain she is incorporating the mountainous landscape into wall sculptures of stone and glass, that reflect the hardness and eternity of the mountains. Her love for the floating forms you find in this sculptures, that appear different with changing light and as well in her Flamenco paintings, which she exhibits as well.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Casa de la Juventud

Just opposite the Huerta, crossing the street, you find the Casa de la Juventud, a large, newly renewed hall of the administration of Gaucín. Three artists are exhibiting here in three different disciplines: Photography by Vivienne Whiffen, Landscape paintings by Ira Goldberg and Sculptures by Silvia Franco.

Links

Find information about all artists here:

Art Gaucín – organizer of the Open Studios

More about Gaucín

Read about former visits of the Open Studios Gaucín here.

Preparing for Gaucín


If you are interested to get information about art events in the Málaga/Marbella region, subscribe to this blog! You are very welcome!

See my art here:
Art G.Oppelland-Hampel

The Studios are open in Gaucín!

Don’t miss it this weekend!
Walk with me on the first part…..more to follow!


Finally, after three years, doors of Gaucín’s studios are open again!

It’s a long tradition – on the last weekend in May and the first weekend in June 21 artists of Gaucín open the studio doors. This event attracts always a loyal and also a new audience coming as far as Málaga and Tarifa. I was very much missing it in the two years of the pandemic.

The drive up to Gaucín, which leads through an extremely beautiful landscape is one of my yearly highlights concerning art events. Many years ago, being the first time in Andalucía , this event was a great discovery for me. Over the following years it became kind of my artistic homeland. As I love this place so much, I love to share this pleasure with you.

Gaucín

A great pleasure for me was the possibility to exhibit in Gaucín in 2018, being the invited guest artist. Driving up the hill feels somehow like getting in a kind of homeland.

Gaucín is not only a great place for art, a beautiful white village with views as far as Morocco on clears days but also a place of fantastic restaurants! Reserve your table!

Only one more weekend left for visiting!

See here, what you can see the coming weekend!

The „Open Studio map“ numbers the exhibition places from 1 to 18. My description goes the other way round – at the end of my information (1 to 11) you‘ll find many artists in the same building or rather near together. So if your feet are getting a bit tired, it helps to take advantage of this by changing direction. I missed some studios – as I spend a lot of time talking with the artist. So here a description of those, that I managed to visit.

Anna McGrane

A bit hidden in the landscape, before you cross the river, you find the beautiful ground of Anna. Walk down with her to her studio and enjoy the view to Gaucín and explore her studio and work that consists of very different disciplines like wood prints, ceramics and paintings.


Raffaela Zenoni

A newbie in Gaucín but not in the artworld. Entering the house is like entering a world of wonder. Behind the small entrance door of a house in Calle Larga is hidden a gem of a house and far views. All of this a great setting for the very strong and gigantic works by Swiss artist Raffaela. I was impressed by intensive colours, a very free style and also by the huge format of the paintings – can’t even imagine how to paint those!

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Ana Pellón and Juan Antonio Sangil

The years before Juan Sangil and Ana Pellón exhibited in a smaller house in Calle Larga. I have never seen the workshop of Juan, but if you see his art which consists of burning together different materials and you see the very solid artworks that come out of it, you reckon that the workshop has to be something. This year the couple exhibits in it’s own home, nestled away a bit under the castle, containing the huge studio of Juan and the studio of Ana. I was impressed.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

I always assumed that Ana Pellón was a studied architect, as she has a love in her works for houses that in their straight and reduced lines and austerity, seem to be reminiscent of architectural drawings. But I learned it was my fantasy. I very much like this reduced style and was most attracted this time by a white monolith towering over flat land – probably because I was just back from my visit to Ayers Rock and it reminded me of it.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

J.Sánchez Zabaleta

This studio is also a little way to go, but really worth while. Sánchez is a painter who can look back at an impressive list of exhibitions in renown galleries. His very muted colour palette underlines the atmosphere for one of his preferred subjects, used utilitarian objects that show the traces of time. Some of my favourite images are the dogs that belong or belonged to the family. After a warm welcome from Maria, you can watch Sánchez at his meticulous work and ask him questions, how he is performing these wonders.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Paddy Robinson

Always an adventure in different respect is the visit to Paddy`s studio, which occupies the 3rd floor of the narrow house and leads the visitor past many wonderful decorations and colours. Equally diverse are the artworks of Paddy, who, in addition to her very precise, fantastic works, also exhibits abstract paintings, to which I am more attracted. What to say, I am an abstract painter.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Jenny Waterhouse

When you enter this small, somewhat hidden house, you step into meadows full of flowers and almost feel their scent. Jennifer is a classic landscape painter whose paintings are mostly created open air directly in nature in the surroundings of Gaucín. The paintings breathe a lightness and freshness that captivates me every time.

#Click onto the images to enlarge!

Now you need a break, time to have a lunch in one of the beautiful and very tasty restaurants of Gaucín!
Watch this place and read more tomorrow about part two of the walk!

Links

Find information about all artists here:

Art Gaucín – organizer of the Open Studios

More about Gaucín

Read about former visits of the Open Studios Gaucín here.

Preparing for Gaucín

See my art here:
Art G.Oppelland-Hampel

What to do in Marbella this weekend?

Landscape with mountain in a yellowish light from the Sahara sands colouring the air.
Not only grey skies, but yellow sky that was sent to us by Sahara sands. Nearly hiding the Concha and covering many parts of the Costa del Sol.

I need some entertainment and something to lift my spirit.

It feels like we are having at least the 6th week of grey skies and rain warnings – some of them are happening, not as frequent (and necessary) as announced. And now a yellow dusty Sahara heaven like I imagine Shanghai. What to do?

I need some entertainment and something to lift my spirit. What can it be? At least nothing to do outside.
I am an artist. If you feel like me – or much better – here I share 3 art events that you can visit this weekend or the coming week.

1) Friday 25th of March: ELARTSenal Inoxis (Alhaurin el Grande)

This will be the opening of a group exhibition in this most interesting culture centre in which you find art, vintage articles and Inoxis – Stainless steel sculptures, classic cars and much more. ElARTSENAL INOXIS also offers a broad music program. The “maker” of this art event, are a gallerist and a stainless steal professional. Be sure, it all will be a great surprise! You find some interesting information and photos here: Artsenal Inoxis – a very lively culture centre in Alhaurin el Grande.

2) Saturday, 26th of March: Nueva Andalucía

As I have never seen the artist workshop and gallery of the artist couple Enar Cruz and Lothar Cames. It is in Nueva Andalucía. This Saturday there is an opportunity to visit it! I am very curious to find out, what can be expected. I love studio visits, open doors. A great opportunity to get to know the artists and their work in a their own creative atmosphere. Always a very special atmosphere.

Enar Cruz Open Studio Poster

Sunday, 27.03.2022 “Mar poética” at
12 noon, Cortijo Miraflores de Marbella

This is a very local event. Normally I wouldn’t know about it. But an Spanish artist friend invited me. So I tried to find out what it is all about. As far as I deciphered we can expect:
27 artist de “Artistas mujeres de Marbella” will exhibit their paintings inspired by 27 poems that were made by the Generatción de 27. All this will be accompanied with music and singing of a local singer, Sito Morales. For me a great opportunity to get to know 27 local artists!
By the way, what I looked up in Wikipedia: The Generation 27 is a group of Spanish poets and writers, very famous in the 20th of last century till the beginning of the civil war 1936. The name is honouring the baroque poet Luis de Góngora, who’s whose 300th death anniversary was celebrated in 1927. Find the website here.

More to lift your spirit!

I am about to publish my series of giclée prints called (and showing) “My Rose Garden” and going to publish it in my Art News. If you leave your email, you’ll get a dose of inspiring art and art talk once a month into your mailbox. Have a cup of tea or coffee. Relax. Nourish your creative soul!
Watch the artist – me 🙂 – working in my studio, get a glimpse into the painting process. Have first excess to available new work and the occasional readers treat! Let me take you to interesting exhibitions – like now – and be up to date about what’s up.

The next edition of ART NEWS will have details about the “My Rose Garden” series, another free wallpaper download for desktop and a special readers treat.

A daily portion of beauty!

As I am about to publish my “Rose garden”, a giclée print edition, I want to share with you my admiration for these wonderful flowers.
I love this sentence by Rumi:
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY BEAUTY.
So true. And so important for us to be aware of it in order to keep up our good spirits.

Enjoy the “Dark roses in white vase” each time you look on your phone! To add to your nice moments in the day I want to share these roses as a FREE DOWNLOAD for your telephone screen!

Yes, send me the Art News!

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Find more of my art here:
Art G.Oppelland-Hampel

A very special and unique museum in Málaga

The planned visit gave us a bit of a logistic headache as we are late people and the museum would be closed between 14:00 and 16:00 hours. I didn’t trust unknown parking spaces so we decided to park in the wonderful garage of Calle Alemania, and headed along the river to a very special and unique museum , the Museum Jorge Rando. (Find the link at the end of this article )

We originally planned to visit the exhibition of a Chinese artist, but we were two days late. Not a disappointment though, as we had the chance to get a rather complex view on the life‘s work of Jorge Rando, the neo-expressive painter of Málaga, who has gained such a fame that he was awarded with his own museum by the city of Málaga.

Jorge Rando: A very special and unique museum in Málaga

I love this museum. It‘s in itself a beautiful place and a centre of cultural life. It surrounds you with this wonderful stillness that you find in churches and museums – when you are lucky. At our arrival a chorus was just practicing in the beautiful yard. What an inspiring add on while we were exploring an impressive new extension of the museum building.

Mariposas everywhere…..

The main exhibition was around the butterflies. “Mariposas” are a theme that Rando tackled over many years again and again. The whole basement was dedicated to them.

A stair upwards: The human life

Jorge Rando (Spain – 1941) is one of the greatest international exponents of Neo-expressionism.

„For more than fifty years, his works have been exploring dignity as a testimony of being; the necessary construction of individual identity; the denouncement of injustice and the call to individual action and responsibility as the only path to hope; the exploration of the essence of human condition through feelings such as love and suffering; the defence and visibility of the role of women as protagonists in
the fate of humanity or the call to restore a harmonious relationship between humanity and animals and nature.“ (Quote Jorge Rando Museum)

Motherhood, Africa, Spirituality and more…

The themes that Rando covered and are exhibited here are centre exactly around his love of the human being, like Motherhood, Spirituality, Human life and more. As an abstract expressionist painter myself, I am always especially attracted by his abstracts. (Click onto the paintings to enlarge.)

In another part of the museum I got some goose bumps. There is a gallery of faces, some from people living in the street, some from soldiers. With the Ukrainian drama in the back of the head, I was not comfortable being faced with the theme of soldiers. I have seen these exponents already before, but never it worried me so much.

Not only the entrance is free for you, also the pleasure of art books

An incredible great and rich room is the library. The entrance to the museum and the use of the library are free. You find a collection of art books that you can only dream of. Sit down and have a look. Come earlier than we did. Reserve an hour of leisure to sit down and enjoy. And then…..maybe a lunch at Plaza de la Mercedes ? Its only 10 walking minutes away.

Jorge Rando

If you like what you see here

like to learn more about art places I visit ( many in the area Marbella/Málaga )and the art I make and show, follow my excursions via my Art News! Get your regular dose of art and feel inspired!

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Museo Jorge Rando

Here you also find the audio guide to the museum!

Another visit to Jorge Rando Museum

Running exhibition in Marbella Gallery – part of it is still up!

Want to now more about my art? Tap here.

Late but not too late – the show runs till 9th of January 2022

Wadström & Tönnheim present an exhibition about two contrasting aspects of life

There are times to rest and times to write. A while I was not up to writing, but it would be a pity if you miss this.
It’s been quite a while since I visited the opening of “Hugging The Void” (Alexa Grande) and “Solid Ground” (Stefan Otto) at Gallery Wadström and Tönnheim. But the impression still stays very vivid.
Now it’s late – but not too late. The show runs till 9th of January 2022. You have time until the Three Kings!!!
I only discovered Gallery Wadström and Tönnheim this year. It’s a bit hidden in one of Marbella’s many commercial areas, not a great setting. The impression when you enter this spacious and aesthetic gallery is all the greater. Like art, it expands you and gives you the feeling of entering another sphere. So an unconditional recommendation. It may be late, but it’s not too late…..

For me the title of the exhibition: HUGGING THE VOID and SOLID GROUND is tempting as it features two aspects of life that can’t be more different and nevertheless are included in every ones life, more or less in proportion.

Continue reading “Late but not too late – the show runs till 9th of January 2022”

Monumental Art in the harbour

One of the monumental sculptures in the harbour of Puerto Banús by Arne Quinze  at the exhibition "My secret garden" with boats in the back ground.

Art in the harbour

Arne Quinze’s monumental statues in Puerto Banús

Its always my pleasure to stroll through harbours. I love the atmosphere of the sea and to watch all the boats in their berth telling stories about adventures on the sea and dreams of far away harbours.

Looking at the boats swaying quietly in the wind and drinking a coffee is a wonderful afternoon pleasure for me, complemented by the very colourful crowd of visitors strolling through the harbour, always worth some attention.

The harbour of Puerto Banús and Concha on the background

The harbour: an Open Air Museum!

Monumental sculptures in the harbour of Puerto Banús
by Arne Quinze


The pleasure has now been taken to the next level:
the harbour has been transformed from a place of beautiful yachts and speedboats and exclusive shops into a huge open-air museum! This is a quite new incentive and worth a stroll through the harbour, which is very idyllic and quite Andalusian, framed by nested white houses while the boats stand out against the imposing backdrop of Marbella’s local mountain, the Concha.

Continue reading “Monumental Art in the harbour”

Look “Beyond the Horizon” in Marbella

This week I visited another fantastic exhibition in Marbella. The Gallery Isolina Arbulu , one of the treasure in Marbellas gallery world is worth to be discovered. Till end of March Isolina Arbulu is showing a very fine and silente exhibition – a combination of photos and sculptors that are in a great dialog with each other. The photos are taken during her activity as a consultant in the poorest regions of the world by ANGÉLICA ARBULU. Angélica tries to show the beauty in rather isolated places that don’t attract attention on the first glance. A wonderful match with theses photos are the taking sculptures by Málaga artist STELLA KAMAZÓN. Built from recycled materials the figures make a great link to the geographical areas where the photos come from. Stella shows nearly faceless figures which are lost in an other isolated world, the world of technique, phone and internet.

I was already taken by this wonderful combination in the entrance hall – such a great dialog between these two art works!

Here is a small choice of the art works to be seen!

The atmosphere of the gallery is very inviting, situated in a beautiful workplace. It has the notion of a very private house. We were happy to have Isolina as our guide and then the gallery for ourselves after having made a telephone appointment! Its a recommendation to make an appointment to be sure you meet Isolina Arbulu in person and get the interesting information about the exhibition.

I loved the title “Beyond the Horizon” and this description very much, especially as I was also engaged with the horizon when I working on my “Desert Trip Print Series”.

That’s up in January – Exhibitions Worldwide!!!

End of the year 2019 my schedule was still rather blank – only a few days into the new year it already gets a bit crowded with exhibitions!

NEW YORK

Saphira & Ventura Gallery 04th of February 2020

Date has been changed!!!! see below!

12 of my paintings 12“x12“ ( 30×30 cm) are sitting in this mid-town New York gallery and are waiting for their stage call! Here it is: 4th of February to 20th of February my paintings will have their New York debut in a group show – wish I were there! ( The planning to do it in January has been postponed). The gallery has not yet announced it in public – seem to be a secret still – so I will keep you posted!

Read about my first exciting visit in the New York Gallery Saphira & Ventura, where I arrived with a huge suitcase of paintings…..Click here!

COSTA DEL SOL

Las Lagunas, Mijas 24th of January 2020

More on the sunny side of the world the the never tired great art lover Raphael Fernandez Pacheco has organized a new exhibition in the beautiful exhibition room in Las Lagunas, Mijas. My artist fellow from Costa del Arte Collective , Sally Hirst and I will take part in this interesting group show of Spanish and International artists.

If you happen to be at the Costa del Sol, safe this date: 24th of January 2020. The exhibition is open till 10th of February. Inauguration 24th of January at 8 pm. You are very welcome!


Get a short impression from December 2018 exhibition in the beautiful rooms of the Casa Cultura, Las Lagunas, Mijas Costa


WORLDWIDE RELEASE. An experiment.

“THE DESERT TRIP PRINTS” Release date for Subscribers 17.01.2020, Public release 25.01.2020

The Internet offers incredible possibilities! 2019 was definitely my Internet-Work-Shop-Fan year! During one of these beautiful internet workshops – in this case “ The small art challenge” of Sergio Gomez, an artist and curator from Chicago I used my holidays in Palm Springs and the surrounding deserts to create a lovely digital series of my desert trip.

This in itself was an experiment. Finding a printer who is specialized in Fine Art Prints needed a lot of time, many trial and errors and test prints. This was another adventure. But that is done!!! Now I hold the prints in my hands, beautiful colors, wonderful paper, nice look and nice feel, printed by a very professional print shop. Offering my art worldwide with an online release now is the next experiment I am going to go for.

Special offer for my newsletter readers

A I have a special offer for my newsletter subscribers: a preview for some 4 days, to be the the first to see “The desert trip prints” and choose from this series of 11 prints, which will be published as a Limited Edition of 10 prints each painting, all hand signed and numbered by the artist. The release date for subscribers is 17th of January till the 20th of January 2020.

Saturday the 25th oh January the series will be released via my website, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn worldwide. This special offer will be available for two weeks.

If you are interested to be with the first to be informed about my new works, exhibitions and artists adventures, join my VIP email list here. Of course you can cancel it when ever you feel like it.

You want to sneak in some photos of my desert trip, that inspired me for this series? Click here!

And if you want to eat in Mijas….see my paintings there!

Paintings in Alboca Gastro, Mijas

Till end of March you will be able to enjoy “Dine and Vine” with view on my paintings in “Alboca Gastro” a charming small restaurant just near the large plaza of Mijas. Thanks to Rafael Fernandez Pacheco who is a great ambassador of the arts I have the opportunity to show some of my larger paintings to “the world”. As the restaurant will be closed from 20th of January to 4th February . My paintings will be to be seen through February and probably March too.

Past and coming exhibitions – Exposiciones pasadas y próximas

Next art exhibition in La Cala de Mijas!/
La próxima exposición de arte en La Cala de Mijas.

Use Google translate / Usa el traductor de Google / Benutze Google translate

What a busy art time I had! The Art Walk in Cómpeta in April, “Mini Cuadros” in Almuňécar in May, the International Festival of Art in Marbella in June and now showing till July ” We can do”, an exhibition of 13 lady artists, in Cala de Mijas in the Casa de Cultura.

Next exhibition: We can do it! in La Cala de Mijas!

The Inauguration will be Friday, 28th of June at 8 pm! I will participate with two or three paintings. Two of my fellow artists from Costa del Arte Collective will show there works too: Anouk Slegers and Lieuwke Loth! This exhibition was curated by Rafael Fernandez Pacheco, who is a great art lover and probably features every exhibition to be seen in Málaga. This is the third exhibition I am invited to participate!!! Would love to see you there!

The International Festival de Arte in Marbella, a review /
El Festival Internacional de Arte de Marbella, una reseña.

A real fascinating event took place last week in Marbella. The Festiarte, a great art show that featured more than 100 artists in 60 stalls by the organised by the town of Marbella and Javier Roman (Delegación Cultural del Ayuntamiento de Marbella (@delegacionculturamarbella) y por Marco Eventos Culturales).  We stayed 4 days and evenings – opening times were till 11 pm! – on the beautiful place with the Dali statues and the view to the sea. It was  a great community of artists and many many visitors, who had a lot of choice to see and buy interesting artworks of different kinds: pottery, statues, photography, painting and more.

Tap to enlarge photos

 

The four days were a great adventure and success. And a real challenge! We got the tents with a nice lightening system but no hanging system at all. But with some tools, a lot of phantasy how to manage and a lot of patience everybody worked it out. A huger challenger was the wind, some days it had to be called storm. Coming back from a break we found a lot of the paintings on the floor, luckily there was no damage at our art! I took the opportunity to show some larger works, which got some attention.

Tap to enlarge photos

A little memory to some other stalls….

Press

Very happy was the Costa del Arte Collective about a nice article in EuroWeekly, written by Nicole King! Thank you Nicole!