Starting today, the Chiclana Museum is hosting the exhibition “Walls for Andrea,” which features works by José Agustín Gerrú and will be open to the public through July 19. This was announced by the municipal delegate for Culture, Susana Rivas, and the director of the Chiclana Museum, Jesús Romero, who were accompanied by the artist himself.
“Walls for Andrea” is an attempt to make the fleeting last—a naive and noble battle amid the battles of a war known in advance to be lost. The artistic unity, amidst an apparent thematic diversity, lends visual cohesion to a collection that, more or less consistently, the visitor perceives as a single work: the exhibition itself.
Not fictitious walls on canvas, but walls recreated—materially recreated by the artist—that serve as both the medium and the subject matter of the themes which, piece by piece and in a carefully sequenced manner, are presented for visual enjoyment and deep reflection. The profusion of details demands a careful, attentive gaze, one capable of perceiving endless nuances in the rich suggestiveness of the works.
Some thirty pieces, including sculptures, which, as heirs to our most classical iconic tradition (Ghirlandaio, Leonardo, Raphael, and Velázquez, among others), also draw inspiration from the most contemporary icons, including those of the seventh art. This exhibition leads us to the idea that life is a reflection in the mirror of the mind, and that each person has, since birth, accumulated a set of impressions, tastes, beliefs, prejudices, and experiences that shape and reconstruct the reality they observe.
“Today we’ve opened an exhibition that is visually stunning and will leave no one indifferent,” said Susana Rivas, who encouraged the public to visit it through July 19. “It’s a unique exhibition that stands out among the museum’s extensive annual exhibition program,” emphasized the Culture Delegate, who thanked the artist for exhibiting in Chiclana.
For his part, José Agustín Gerrú stated, “I am a self-taught painter, so my education in the fine arts has been one of trial and error. Everything I know about painting I learned by making mistakes.” “I’d like to thank the Chiclana Museum for the opportunity to exhibit in Chiclana and for the wonderful hospitality I’ve received,” said the artist, who described the exhibition as “the result of a dialogue. My daughter Andrea died in a traffic accident 35 years ago, and the year and a half she spent with us helped me discover a capacity for love I didn’t know I had.” “Everything good and bad that I’ve experienced since then, I’ve shared with her, and this exhibition is the result of that ongoing dialogue,” he said.
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