JaZzArt en València

Although it may look like a tropical beach, this is the Mediterranean Sea at Malvarosa Beach, València…

Today, warming up to 24 degrees, and sunny! Surf’s up!

Cheers…

Welcome to part 2 of this new Art History limited series. We started with Fra Angelico, and now we continue with another Quatrocentist painter whose work is very important in the development of Renaissance art, and that, of course, created the masters…classics…who still influence artists today.

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Early Renaissance painter from Italy and a great one to kick off this series of Art History for all. I think all can enjoy, but especially artists…

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Valencia is a very old city. It was founded by the Romans as Valentia, so that tells you it is definitely old. The city, naturally, has gone through many changes. We were Roman, then Visigoth, then Moorish, then thanks to El Cid, we were liberated from the Moors and well, here we are, Christian again but a bit more free from the restraints of religion.

In the «Ciutat Vella» (that is the old city, written in our language, Valenciano), there are many buildings, old, very ancient, and many walls. Lamentably some people…could be young people, I don’t know as I’ve not seen them…have scribbled and painted up some of those old walls, and others, urban/street artists have painted images quite beautiful on them…

But one day I ran across a wall surrounding a construction site and it became the background/backdrop of the painting above. They had just demolished the building and thrown everything away, but I guess that some flower pots from the wall garden had broken and fallen and they remained there, nestled right against the wall. They were red, there were still flowers in them, I think they were chrysanthemums…

«Three Flowers» measures 50x70cm and was painted with acrylic paint on a 100% cotton canvas. This painting, along with many others (please visit our online galleries on Instagram (@Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera) and/or www.fbcart.wixsite.com/jazzart for more) is for sale via Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia. Message us for more details through DM on Instagram.

Cheers…

I would like to say that this is one of the first (done in 2001) of the Jazz-Art Series of graphite/ink drawings on Canson paper. There may be others from the same time but this one has survived. I apologise for the quality of the photograph. Actually I had a tee-shirt made with this image and that’s the only thing I have now so I stretched it and took the picture (it is now framed).

This drawing is very important to me because it has within the composition the idea, the jazzyness, i.e. the elements that later formed the series JaZzArt en València. I started with the idea of music, but music is totally abstract and I did not intend to create an abstract drawing. So I revised my thought and started sketching the idea of music, the flow of the phrases, the staccato, the legato, the syncopation, the rhythm, the voice of the singer, the swing of the players…

I think you get the rest…

If you would like to see a complete…well, almost…collection of the black & white drawings, please visit us on our Instagram, @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and I think you will get a complete picture and you will see how this 2001 drawing became the great grand-father to the drawings that came later.

Cheers…

Omnia Caelum Studios…

The name comes from Metamorphoseis, («The Metamorphoses») a poem written by the Roman poet Ovid on 8 AD, which narrates the creation of the world and it’s history until the day of the deification of Julius Caesar…

The translation of Omnia Caelum into English is hard to achieve, but the best I can do is to think that it may mean: «all is heaven»…

First came Omnia Caelum Miami. I started this business in the year 2003 with my first professional exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey. I never thought it would be there, but it was, that’s destiny I guess. From there I proceded to New York, to Zaragoza, Spain, to Miami, and to other cities in the State of Florida. I took my work to all galleries, to all fairs, festivals and to special expos. But my greatest accomplishment…I would say…was that I was able to reach fabulous individual collectors that opted for my work, and they are from three continents: Europe, Asia and America.

Upon my return to Spain I re-named the studios Omnia Caelum Studios València, as València, Spain, is my city. From here I have exhibited in Barcelona, Sevilla and in Izmir, Turkey, as well as participating in many trans-European art auctions and I have seen my art travel to many countries in the continent. And this is just the beginning. There are many countries in my plans, many places to visit, many places to take my work to…

Like I have said many times before, I am a painter, not an artist. I really don’t know what they mean when they say «artist». I am a searcher and searching is the greatest form of art, as far as I know. I don’t believe in a lot of things that I hear are important to so-called «artists», like originality and style. No artist is original. We cannot be original. Perhaps our ancestors were original but even then, I am sure they copied nature. And as far as style is concerned, it is a limiting factor. To develop a style all you have to do is to do the same thing over and over again. Like Picasso said, God created a giraffe and an ant, totally different, where was His style? And for me, God is the only creator…

I invite you to look at…most of my artwork…the work I sell and display on Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia, through Instagram. We are at @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and @Guloshka (my representative, curator and adviser). And I also invite you to my YouTube channel (through the link below) where I post videos of art and of many artists in my Art History series.

Cheers…

Well…an artist creates a painting, a sculpture; a composer a song or a symphony, and perhaps many tunes in between; a choreographer creates a ballet, a modern or jazz dance. But I am a painter. Although I did create…back in 1997…my «greatest» work, I call him «Bodo Vespaciano». I was Bodo for many years, well, until 2019 when I returned to Spain and settled down as Francisco Bravo Cabrera (we use two last names in Spain).

So if you see my work signed as Bodo Vespaciano (or Bodo V), it is still me as I am still Bodo to many people in other countries. And I kind of like Bodo so I do not want to get rid of him so quickly.

I just want to mention that I write, compose and paint, but I do it as the practitioner of a craft…an art-form to many…and not as something intuitive. I have studied and researched my craft too much to allow for something to surge spontaneously out of «inspiration». I am a craftsman so I plan everything, sketch out everything, research colours, tones, hues et cetera and plan…very well…my compositions. And as an artist, I use emotions as a tool. Raw emotion is not art.

I hope you enjoy my site, my blog, my work and whatever else happens to make its way into this site.

Your visits are tremendously appreciated, cheers…