Fernando Almela at IVAM’s Collection

In the subject matter he chooses, we also observe a return—though with a fresh eye—to these masters. His still lifes of fruit, such as the long series dedicated to the kakis of the Chinese painter Mu Qi (1210–1275), as well as his Morandi-like paintings of vessels, acquire, at his hands, distinctive meanings. These are dealt with in various ways, from drawing to painting on canvas to sculpting, with graphic works along the way. Landscapes—another subject matter which captures the artist’s interest—often depict lush vegetation and offer us versions, influenced by many scenes found in his travels, of a Mediterranean childhood garden that was never forgotten. Viewers will appreciate the artist’s original treatment of pictorial planes, one of his most brilliant achievements. Almela presents hypnotic distortions of the relationship between figure and ground; the former might be transformed into a vibrant, tangible absence, at the heart of which lies nothing other than the nostalgia of loss, while the latter becomes a chance for experimentation as audacious as it is subtle, based upon a palette of colors which unequivocally communicates his Valencian origins. The works exhibited on this occasion are part of the donation made jointly by the Almela-Solsona Foundation—created by the artist and serving as the heir of his artistic legacy and guarantor of his wishes—and IVAM (Valencian Institute of Modern Art), which thus becomes the definitive gallery for the contemplation and study of the artist’s work.