Exhibitions
Chico Prats, the look that painted the soul of Ibiza
An exhibition in Es Polvorí vindicates the pictorial and photographic dimension of a creator who converted the light and everyday life of the island into his own artistic language.
Ibizan summer recovers one of the most singular figures in its artistic memory with Chico Prats: Art and Photography (1916–2006) , an exhibition that will be inaugurated on July 13 in the Es Polvorí room and that can be visited until August 29. The exhibition, promoted by the Ibiza City Council, coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the artist's death and the one hundred and ten years since his birth, a double anniversary that invites us to review a career marked by a deep connection with the island.
Of Catalan origin, José Manuel Chico Prats found much more in Ibiza than a summer setting. The island became his visual laboratory, a territory from which to construct a work that oscillates between sensitive documentation and poetic interpretation of the landscape. His paintings and photographs reveal a patient gaze, far removed from any exoticism, capable of capturing the Mediterranean light, popular architecture and everyday gestures of an Ibiza before its tourist transformation.
Photography occupied an essential place in his creative process. More than a documentary record, it was a tool of observation that allowed him to study compositions, atmospheres and light contrasts that he later transferred to his oils and his characteristic wax works. This relationship between the two languages is precisely one of the great attractions of the exhibition, which offers the visitor the opportunity to understand how the observed reality was transformed into artistic interpretation.
The exhibition brings together paintings from the artistic collection of the Consell Insular d'Eivissa and from various private collections, including those of Toni Torres, Joan Torres and Josep Escandell. The tour is completed with a selection of photographs preserved in the Arxiu d'Imatge i So Municipal d'Eivissa (AISME), a collection of great heritage value consisting of more than 3,000 images donated by the artist's family thirteen years ago and recently expanded with a hundred new photographs.
This archive, mainly made up of snapshots taken between the 1950s and 1980s, is today an exceptional testimony to both Chico Prats' creative evolution and the visual memory of an Ibiza that has almost disappeared. His images document streets, landscapes, trades and everyday scenes with a sensitivity that transcends simple historical value to be placed in the realm of artistic creation.
Beyond its commemorative interest, this exhibition raises a reflection on the need to preserve those gazes that have contributed to building the visual imagination of the island. In an era marked by the immediacy of the digital image, Chico Prats' work recalls the value of slow observation, of light as a pictorial material and of photography as a space for thought rather than visual consumption.
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