I always love it when out of the blue, one learns of the celebration of the art of drawing.
Just a small entry in today's Spanish papers, but a good piece of news for all of us who think that drawing is just as important as painting. Miquel Barcelo, the highly successful artist from Mallorca, has just been awarded the Penages Award for Drawing from the Mapfre Foundation in Spain. In his acceptance speech, he talked of the fact that he finds that, " Es gracioso pensar que la pintura ha muerto y el dibujo no" -explicó en referencia a aquellos que dan por muerto este arte-. Como si muere Dios pero la Virgen María siguiese viva" ( a quote from the Diario de Mallorca, that it is somewhat ironic to think that painting has died whilst drawing survives, as if God had died but the Virgin Mary remains alive). He received the award in Madrid, with Princess Elena present at the ceremony.
Barcelo's drawings and etchings are indeed a delight with their fluid ease and grace.
Barceló has spent a lot of tiime in Africa, especially in Mali, and his images capture the essence of Africa.
I delight when an artist celebrates drawing as does Miquel Barceló. He inspires us all to keep drawing.