December 27, 2011
Seville, 27 December 2011.- The Focus-Abengoa Foundation today opened the exhibition of the works selected in the Focus-Abengoa 2011 Painting Prize, which features 34 works of art by finalists and award winners. The opening ceremony for the exhibition was attended by José B. Terceiro, president of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation and vice chairman of Abengo and Anabel Morillo, Director General of the Foundation. Also attended Miguel Galano, winner of the 28th edition of the Focus-Abengoa Painting Prize, and Ismael Iglesias Serrano and Alvar Haro Sánchez, the runners-up.
The exhibition, which will be open to the public until Sunday 4 March 2012, has reserved a special place for the work by Miguel Galano, entitled Népliget (oil on canvas; 180 cm x 200 cm), which won this edition of the Painting Prize. The opening ceremony also attended by feature the runners-up prizes Ismael Iglesias Serrano, for his work entitled CTRL+Z (XXX), and Alvar Haro Sánchez for his work Embarque para Citerea. The prize-winning works will form part of the Focus-Abengoa contemporary art collection that includes paintings, sculptures and graphic works and which already contains pieces by Antonio López Botero, Carmen Laffon and Gustavo Torner, among others.
The exhibition also includes works by Tomás Mendoza Arracó, Diego Pujal Laplagne and Diego Vallejo Pierna, which received a special mention by the jury.
The exhibition of the finalists’ and award winners’ works will be open to the public between 10.00 and 14.00 and from 16.00 to 20.00, at the Hospital de los Venerables in Seville, the headquarters of the Foundation, where it will remain on show until Sunday 4 March 2012. Entry to the exhibition is free.
The Focus-Abengoa Painting Prize, which has a long tradition and a prestigious reputation, has been held for the last 28 years and has become one of the foremost European and American awards in the art world. The jury at this edition, which was chaired by Anabel Morillo León, Director General of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation and comprised Jaime Brihuega, Juan Fernández Lacomba, Juan Manuel Bonet, Manuel Sánchez Arcenegui, Guillermo Pérez Villalta, Juan Carrete Parrondo and Estrella de Diego, analysed a total of 34 works, all of outstanding quality and displaying excellent technique.
From the outset the Focus-Abengoa Foundation has expressed a clear interest in all cultural activities, not only those directly connected to the city of Seville, but all artistic, literary and scientific expressions at a national and international level.
The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was created in 1982 as a result of the cultural work begun in 1972 by Abengoa with the publication of the works Temas Sevillanos (Themes of Seville) and Iconografía de Sevilla (Iconography of Seville). A collection of documents, books and engravings on the Kingdom of Seville and by Sevillian authors was created around the same time. This initial cultural work showed Abengoa’s directors the importance of the company’s involvement in activities that directly benefit society, beyond its core technology work, which led to the creation of the Seville Cultural Fund Foundation. Since 2007 the Hospital de los Venerables, a 17th century monument and the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation in Seville, has housed the Diego Velázquez Research Centre, a leading institution for studying and disseminating the Baroque era and the Sevillian period of this universally renowned artist, which was created to mark the acquisition of Velázquez’s Santa Rufina by the Foundation in the same year.
Information about the prize winners
Miguel Galano (Asturias, 1956). Miguel studied fine arts at the San Fernando Higher School of Fine Arts in Madrid. He completed his studies in this area thanks to various grants from public institutions, such as the Ministry of Culture, as well as private institutions such as the Endesa Scholarship for Fine Arts. He has held individual exhibitions since 1997 in various galleries in Madrid, Segovia, Gijón, Oviedo and Stockholm, and his work has been chosen for collections by the Museo Jovellanos and the Príncipe de Asturias Foundation. He has won various prizes for his work, including first prize in the 2nd edition of the Painting Prize of the Regional Government of the Principality of Asturias.
Ismael Iglesias Serrano (Vizcaya, 1974). Ismael graduated in fine arts from the University of the Basque Country, specialising in painting and audiovisual arts. His academic distinctions include the Delfina Foundation Residential Scholarship in London, and the Spanish College Residential Scholarship in Paris, awarded by the Ministry of Culture. At an individual level he has exhibited in Bilbao, Barcelona and London and has also participated in various important collections at the Durango Museum of Art and History, and at the Provincial Government of Alicante.
Alvar Haro Sánchez (Paris, 1964). Alvar has achieved national recognition through various awards, including the Prize of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Madrid, the Rafael Zabaleta Painting Prize, and the purchase prize of the Wellington Foundation in the 2nd Contemporary Painting Competition. His work has been exhibited in various museums and public collections including the “Spazio Samuele Mazza” in Milan and the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, as part of the “Miguel Logroño. Reconocimientos” exhibition.
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