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The artists of Formentera tip their hats to poet Marià Villangómez in a collective exhibition

exposiciovillangomez 2013WEB

Councilor of Culture and Local Heritage of the Formentera Island Council, Sònia Cardona, alongside technical specialist of cultural affairs Anna Costa and a diverse collection of the island's artists, held a press conference to present the group exhibition “Marià Villangómez i Formentera”, scheduled to start at the Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell (old town hall) on 22 July and to continue through 10 August.

The exhibition comprises a group of Formentera artists who have each interpreted a sampling of the poetic work of Marià Villangómez. The work of these local artists is intended as an homage to the poet/writer of the Pitiüsa Islands on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. Different pieces include techniques as eclectic as collage, photography, oil paints, acrylic paints, paper and mixed techniques.

Taking part are Celia Jiménez, working with recycled materials; Enric Riera, presenting a piece whose protagonist is the blue of the Mediterranean; Fran Lucas offers a piece that combines collage with an assortment of natural elements; Gilbert Herreyns includes material from his immediate surroundings in his work; Josep Maria Moreu will present a still accompanied by a sculpture of his own making; Maribel Escandell will display a piece whose inspiration was drawn from the natural surroundings and sea of Formentera; Pier Paola Cané has created minute images out of paper and acrylic that contain mini-stories; Robert Hawkins offers once again a vision of the nature of Formentera in colours and Teresa Matilla brings forth a unique combination of various materials. The resulting exhibition brings together nine pieces of art all based on the written work of Villangómez.

2013 is the centenary of the birth of the poet native to Eivissa, Marià Villangómez. In addition to a body of work that is renowned for its maturity and for its continued relevance, the Pitiüsa writer authored some of the poems that have best described the island of Formentera, poems which have even been set to music by the group Uc and converted into folk anthems. One in particular, a long piece entitled “Formentera”, has the construction of an oil painting on canvas. A total of twenty verses that develop – as through a series of paintings – one central idea: our island of Formentera.

Using the Year of Villangómez as a platform, the Formentera Council wishes to put Villangómez's body of work and artistic mastery within the reach of the public. If successful, one of the goals is to convert the collection into a travelling exhibition that would reach the rest of the Balearic Islands.

Literature and – more important still – poetry have always shared significant links with pictorial art. Both serve to conjure visual images, and it is indeed often that the brushstrokes on a canvas have been compared to the penstrokes on a paper in a poem. The opportunity to relate these parallels forms yet another reason behind the exhibition.

With this exhibition, our island's local artists join the ranks of those making homage this year to Villangómez. In this way the poet's verses mix with the work of our artists here today, their different techniques and their particular interpretation.

Formentera is present in the work of Villangómez, even when he doesn't make outward references, because under the artist's concept of the world, Formentera is as much his island as Eivissa.