ArtTraveler digests recent happenings affecting Spanish artists

"El Santero de la Cofradia" by Joaquin Sorolla

Spanish national police (Guardia Civil) a month ago posted a four-plus minute video on YouTube appealing to recover stolen masterpieces, especially "El Santero de la Cofradia" by Joaquin Sorolla, stolen last April from the Museo Benlliure in Valencia.

The Guardia's historical section also wants "Le Pigeon aux Petits Pois" by Malaga born Pablo Picasso, which thieves ripped off in May from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Other stolen works featured include those of Velazquez, Van Gogh, Matisse, Rembrandt and Cezanne.

Painter Agusti Puig continues his joint exhibition with Korean sculptor Jaeho Lee at the Gallery DeNovo in Ketchum, Idahoe (USA) through 7 Feb.

Deadline for applications for the artist's Spanish residency program, Campo Adentro, is 14 Feb. The project includes all disciplines (visual arts, music, dance) exploring the relationship between art and agriculture. Contact: TSIA, de Conde Duque 5, 28015 Madrid. This is open to all international Spanish speaking artists with no age limit.

Patty and Jay Baker paid $1 million for Spanish sculptor Manolo Valdes' work, "Reina Mariana" at the recent Naples (Florida) Winter Wine Festival auction. The festival ends 30 January. Valdes donated the work. Proceeds go to the Naples Children & Education Foundation.

On 26 January, 31 works of Spanish sculptor Gerardo Rueda went on show in Shanghai in the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. 

Street artist JR released a mini-documentary focusing on Cartegena, Spain's seniors, "The Wrinkles of the City," which recently hit Shanghai is worth a view.

Artists from the Andalusian International Artists Group show their paintings, watercolors and photographs of local landscapes from 19 to 28 February at the Malaga International Airport.

With a mere Bic ballpoint pen, Spanish artist Juan Francisco Casas draws photo-realistic pictures of people, some of them three metres high.

The recently completed new headquarters for the BBC in London features a glass and steel kinetic sculpture by Jaume Plensa costing BBC a reported £900,000 and faces All Soul's Church. The work, titled "Breathing," serves as an icon in the night sky, representing the spirit of broadcasting as well as a memorial to journalists killed on assignment.

Rock on and practice peace and love.

See ArtTraveler videos on YouTube and view the photo gallery describing the 1,000 km pilgramage of Dutch walkers Joost and Rob from Seville to Santiago de Compostela, Via de la Plata.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler(TM).