José Manuel Ciria

RESURRECTION OF PAINTING
One must believe in the crystalline astral conjunction of coincidences. Myself
I have been subjected almost unwittingly to one of those conspiracies that
they have more and more successes than frustrations.
Let me explain: first I am in charge of curating a powerful exhibition of
vindication of the painting of one of the most important European painters in
the Naves de Gamazo, a spectacular space dedicated to art in Santander
by the Enaire Foundation. The exhibition "Painting, Memory and Time" by José Manuel
Ciria becomes the great event of the year in the city.

Almost at the same time a brave woman from Lithuania, settled in Santander, proposed to found a new and ambitious art gallery, a gallery that intended to be a first-class international center, and together we chose that an individual Ciria would begin its journey. A solo exhibition that is a renewed continuation of the protean exhibition that could be enjoyed here for several months. The resurrection of painting is an unstoppable international phenomenon that takes us back to the best moments of the artistic avant-garde of the twentieth century and acts as a retaining wall to the wave of adventurism that has tried in vain to take its place. That is why we must congratulate ourselves that it is this conspiracy that brings us together now in this Attic appointment with the best art. We must believe in the crystalline astral conjunction of coincidences: José Manuel Ciria opens the Bālta Gallery today.

Marcos-Ricardo BARNATÁN
Santander, July 2024