JaZzArt en València

Written in 1968 by Jerry Jeff Walker and released in 1970 by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was inspired by a street performer in New Orleans.

Sammy David Jr. sang this song at Richard Nixon’s inauguration in 1973. The song became one of his signature pieces.

Continuing with Art History, I thought it would be a good idea to delve further into Expressionism and what better way than to bring you some of my favourites in the genre…

Cheers…

I have always admired the «Expressionists», not just as one of the European art vanguards of last century, but as a form to «express» my subjects, my references and my themes artistically. No matter whether it is poetry or painting, for me expressionism is my choice. But since I am a dreamer, a person that often times loses himself in thought, in daydreams and in the labyrinths of his imagination, I am also greatly inclined towards surrealism in art, cimema and literature. Then, for me the most logical thing to do…although I detest rationalism…was to merge both schools into one calling it Surreal-Expressionism, contemporary, of course.

Since I started my career and my business, Omnia Caelum Studios Miami (First generation), I aimed towards the development of expressionism in my work, and later I added aspects to it, like Jazz-Art and now Surrealism. Here are some of my early works in the genre…

There are many more works that I have that I consider to be «expressionism» and many that are actually «surreal-expressionism» as well as «Jazz Art». These can be found in my Instagram: @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and from the Instagram of my representative @Guloshka.

Cheers…

Íbamos navegando por la costa de Turquía hasta llegar a Marmaris, una ciudad al sur casi, casi donde el Mediterráneo se junta con el Mar Egeo…

Nos llevo el asistente en una yola y llegamos a la orilla donde ya se escuchaba la música…

Una chica que iba con nosotros, cubana ella, me dijo que esa música la conocía.

Fuimos siguiendo la música, como si nos fuera guiando el flautista, y llegamos a un hotel, donde en un patio estaba el conjunto cubano tocando un son.

Ella los fue a hablar y nosotros a una cerveza. Luego todos brindamos por la amistad.

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We were sailing the coast of Turkey until we reached Marmaris, a city located almost at the place where the Mediterranean joins the Aegean Sea…

The mate took us on a dinghy and upon reaching the shore we heard the music.

A girl travelling with us, a Cuban girl, told me she recognised the music.

We followed the sounds like rats following the piper, until we reached a hotel, where in the gardens we found the Cuban band that was playing.

She approached them while we drank our beers. Later we all raised a toast to friendship.

Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 01 de junio de 2022, Miami Beach, Florida, EEUU

Surrealism is an art movement which involves paintings, theatre, music and perhaps anything else artistic that can be created or imagined by those who create surrealist art. In painting one of the most famous of the surrealists was Salvado Dalí. I am sure you are all well aware of his paintings.

Expressionism is another art movement (both are considered vanguard movements of the XX C.) mostly developed in Germany but definitely spread throughout Europe and America. The most famous are the known German Expressionists. I will mention my favourite Otto Dix.

So then what is surreal-expressionism? It is whatever I want it to be because I invented it. I am not a surreal-expressionist painter but at times I choose that style to develop my work. The painting here, «Menage No.1» is an example of that hybrid style that I began to develop back in the late 1990’s.

As you can see, there is tremendous contrast between the lively strong colours (no primary colours but well mixed) and the very dramatic black. The faces are real, yet not as real as the one you stare at in the mirror. The eyes are looking at you…

If a dream is expressed as a form of reality, a response to an emotional stimulus, is it still a dream?

Francesc Bravo Cabrera, 01 JUN 2022, Miami Beach, Florida, US

You see I spend my summers in the Aegean coast, usually in Turkey close to Izmir…

But also on the Aegean Coast of Greece, on one of the Saronic Islands or on one of my favourite of the North Aegean Islands. Not too many tourists there and one can find things that no one else even thinks of.

There is a lot of history in this area of the world. For one, these were the waters that Odysseus sailed upon his return from the Trojan War. Jason also sailed the Aegean in search of the Golden Fleece on his famous ship the Argo…

The sea got its name from King Aegeus, father of Theseus, the founder of Athens, who sailed off to kill the Minotaur, telling his father that if he saw white sails upon his ship as it returned he was alive and successful, but if he saw black sails he had been killed. Theseus killed the Minotaur but forgot to change the sails, so his ship approached Athens with black sails, and his father, in grief, threw himself into the sea and drowned.

So, as I walked along the rocky shores looking into the most crystal-clear waters I have ever seen, I suddenly find myself in front of a boat on dry-dock and I began to wander…

What would I find if I close my eyes to rational reality and sail away on that boat? Can I just let it drift wherever the waters of Poseidon want to lead me? Whose ghost would come aboard and share with me details that historians never knew?

After spending countless hours sailing these ancient waters, talking to ghosts, and being allowed to see visions of antiquity that no one else in this century has seen, would I be allowed to return to reality?

If I could fly…

On the wings of my imagination, naturally, would I find myself lost in the clouds?

In the summer there are very few clouds on the skies above the Aegean Sea on the coastline of Turkey or of Greece,

but there are many seagulls that sometimes make me think they are dreaming…

because there is no horizon, that flat line that cuts across the Earth, there is only sky and only sea, a place to fly and a place to dream…

C.2022, Francis Bravo Cabrera. 01 JUN 2022, Miami Beach, Florida, US

This is actually Art Digital made from my latest graphite on paper (original in black and white) drawing which I did to illuminate this article: A puerta cerrada…

Now it is a fine art print, available here.

And I leave you with some more here:

Cheers…

This is one of the early, or proto, Jazz-Art that I did in Miami. Check it out here, along with others…

And also here:

Cheers…

Fine art prints are something new for Bodo Vespaciano and new here at Omnia Caelum Studios Valencia.

So, we are heavily promoting them. Check them out here.

And here:

Cheers…

This painting turns into a smashing good fine art print that I have placed here in my new virtual galleries to promote my fine art prints.

And more here…

Cheers…