Curated by Conchi Alvarez
STOA Art Gallery has, from the 7th of March until the 6th of June, an individual exhibition from Conchi Álvarez “The Estepona that I love.” They are paintings made mostly in acrylic on board and, as an innovation for this artist, six small encaustics on paper. This exhibition began over twenty years ago with a painting titled “Street in Estepona I”. With the Roman numeral, the artist left very clear intention to continue painting cityscape, but the series on Estepona was apparently paused during a long period of time. Other genres took her interest until this one reappeared, indirectly, from the prolific series of La Alcazaba in Málaga, a unique urban space that Conchi has dedicated more than fifty paintings. Actually, the last painting from her solo exhibition, “The Alcazaba that I Love” (STOA Gallery, September 23-November 25, 2011), was “Alley to La Alcazaba”, which linked and articulated the series on the malacitano monument with the return to streetscape.
They are urban spaces always sunny, from solitary walks seeking rays of sun in winter and cool shades in summer. Without people, in order for the serenaded love between the artist and the model to arise. With her camera, she captures the spaces that have moved her, those urban features with which a fluent communication has been established, an emotional impact and even a real love. From her walks, she returns to her studio enriched and longing to give life to those experiences with her colors. “The Estepona that I Love” is part of an ambitious series the author calls “Urban Daydreams”, a title that defines well the very personal action involved in painting only cities in which this quasi-magical action occurs: walk, apprehension of spaces, internal explosion and gestation of inspiration. Right now Estepona, also Malaga… but there are already more places where that magic occurs.
The Estepona that I love is full of light and color. The works of art overview spaces belonging to its historical center, with its strong personality, which comes from a unique appearance and irregular urban planning. “Twenty Years Later” is the continuation of the Estepona series, starting from the same place “Street in Estepona I”. There are mysterious and beautiful spots, like “Stairway to Nowhere”; incomprehensible and humor filled spaces, such as “Forbidden, forbidden”. Streets which inevitably live in the shadow of the omnipresent Torre de los Remedios, which is like one of those unsightly Virgins, but that generates a one of a kind fervor. Just as Paris has the Eiffel Tower or Pisa has the Leaning Tower, which are the symbol of their city, Estepona also has its symbol in the tower – icon. “Fraile Street” also shows how the apparent ugliness becomes beauty or how urban aberration of a window in a corner can have its charm, as in “Torrejón Street Corner”. “The Old City Hall” is a clear example of how the artist can fix her attention, capriciously, in minor aspects, such as the flooring, or imagine a hypothetical dialogue between streets, as in “The three streets”, or just take pleasure in the intrinsic beauty of “Mermaid Staircase” or “Damas Street” or the undisputed andalusian grace “Poet Luis Rosales Street” and “Carlos Herrera Street”. That Estepona, the one she loves, which she believes is the perfect place to live, perfect for creation, perfect to enjoy, perfect city for…
ACRYLICS ON PANEL
ENCAUSTICS ON PAPER
Radio Estepona. Interview Juanma Herrera with Conchi Alvarez
Programa “La pincelada” de Juanma Herrera