The pictorial and partly unpublished universe of Sira Ascanio regains its brilliance
From left to right, Ciro Gutiérrez, Manuel Lobo, Javier Cabrera and Francisco Fernández, yesterday, at the Cicca, where the exhibition opens today. /
The exhibition by the artist from Gran Canaria, who died in 2017, can be visited at the Manolo Millares/Elvireta Escobio gallery until July 22
The seascapes of Las Canteras, the urban landscape of his hometown, the lateen sail, the swimmers who inspired him so much after taking his children to the Metropole Swimming Club, and how the figurative painting he initially used
Sira Ascanio (1946-2017) was evolving towards other more abstract territories populated from
this Thursday and until next 22 July the Manolo Millares/Elvireta Escobio gallery of the
Cicca from the capital of Gran Canaria.
'Return to his gaze (1946-2017): Work revisited' is the title of the exhibition that, according to its curator, Javier Cabrera, "brings back to the present" the rich and varied creative universe of this painter from Gran Canaria,
one of the brightest exponents of the so-called generation of 40whose time at the Luján Pérez School was decisive.
"Sira Ascanio first passed through the
School of Arts and Crafts. Then he went to the
Lujan Perez School, where he was trained and began to socialize with painting and the artistic world. Then she went through
Contemporary art workshops, which was organized in the 1980s by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and where he began to worry less about the figurative, freed himself from classical concepts and opened his gaze. There was born a differential context in his creations and even in the way of undertaking the works », he points out
Javier Cabrera as quick brushstrokes around the evolution of Ascanio.
Evolution
"She was a painter
remarkably figurativebut gradually began to evolve into a
some abstraction», adds Cabrera about this creator who was part of the
Spiral Artistic Group and was also a founding member of the
Workshop Artistic Group, along with Juan Marqués, Ricardo Montesdeoca, Manolo Lezcano, and Fran Guillén, among others.
One of the aspects that will quickly draw the visitor's attention to this exhibition is the abundant presence of pieces in
Large Format.
«Yes, he liked them a lot, but above all it was due to his participation in collective exhibitions, since he did only one individual one», clarifies Javier Cabrera, who accompanied Sira Ascanio in the exhibition adventures '
Hesperides. The inner garden' and 'Anastomosis'which after premiering in the La Regenta room in the capital of Gran Canaria, ended up in La Granja, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and which have pieces in this new exhibition.
'Anastomosis' it was also exhibited at the time in the Island Council Art Hall of Fuerteventura and the House of Culture of Puerto del Rosario; in the Castle of San José, in Arrecife; and in the Convent of San Francisco, in Santa Cruz de La Palma.
Unpublished
'Return to her gaze (1946-2017): Work revisited' also provides a look at an unpublished Sira Ascanio. Includes a section on
works on paper"mostly unpublished", says the curator of the exhibition, along with engravings and digital creations made on the computer in his last years of life, when the disease against which he fought for half his life began to win the battle.
Together with this section, his work as
illustrator in publications of different writers. «It was a task that he carried out on different occasions. Even with my books, of which I feel very proud”, says Javier Cabrera.
«Sira was a woman who never worried about standing out, nor about her social image, although she did work on many civil projects, especially related to the defense of the
woman and equality. I remember, for example, that he made several posters for March 8 and illustrated the book
'Scrambled Islanders', by Teresa Iturriaga and María Dolores de la Fe», puts Cabrera as an example.
The presentation to the media of the exhibition took place yesterday at the Cicca, with the presence of
Ciro Gutierrezson of the artist,
manuel wolfvice-president of the La Caja de Canarias Foundation, the aforementioned Javier Cabrera and
Francis Fernandezrepresentative of the Auren Consultant, sponsoring entity.
