(Span-Eng): El baile…como lo veo yo…tres cuadros en Omnia Caelum Studios València/The Dance…as I see it…Three Paintings at Omnia Caelum Studios València.

(C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

Bien…

El primero es de la serie JaZzArt en València, Fase II, etapa rosa, número uno,(La serie completa en Instagram: @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera). Mide 25x35cm y la técnica, grafito (lapices) y tinta sobre una base abstracta de acuarela. La bailarina ocupa el centro de la composición y sus músicos ocupan el lateral izquierdo, mientras que la simbología ocupa el derecho, siendo esta un búho…

La danza es algo mágico-sensual, el arte que siempre nos ha fascinado. ¿Acaso Salomé no bailó con tal sensualidad que embrujó a Herodes con los movimientos de su cuerpo y esto terminó causándole la muerte a Juan el Bautista? ¿Hace falta decir más?

Okay…

The first one is from the series JaZzArt en València, Phase II, Rose Period, Number One. Measures 25x35cm and I painted it with graphite and ink over an abstract background done with watercolours. The dancer occupies the central part of the composition. She has to the right the musicians and to the left symbology in the form of an owl…

The dance is magic-sensuality and is the art form that has always fascinated mankind. Didn’t Salomé dance so sensuously that she bewitched Herod with her movements and this ended up causing the death of John the Baptist? Need I say more?

(C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

El segundo…«Terminando la pirueta»…lo he pintado con pintura acrílica sobre tela cien por ciento algodón. Mide 30x60cm y va ser el primero de un triptico que aún está por pintar. El tema es, igual que el anterior, la danza, la sensualidad del movimiento rítmico, fluido, coreografiado o improvisado, pero destinado a ser placentero y bello. ¿Acaso no dicen que los bailarines son «sex-symbols»?

Bailar, con o sin pareja, es un acto social y también uno artístico. Bailamos en nuestras casas cuando nos sentimos felices y queremos celebrar, solo o acompañados. Lo hacemos también en las fechas importantes de nuestra vida, como el día en que nos casamos, en las fiestas de noche buena y por supuesto en la noche vieja ya que dicen que si comenzamos el año bailando bailaremos el año entero. ¡Venga!

The second one is titled «Terminando la pirueta» («Finishing the Pirouette»). It is acrylic on canvas and measures 30x60cm. This is the first of a triptych that I have yet to paint. It’s theme, again, is the dance, the sensuality of motion, of rhythm, fluid movements, choreographed or improvised, but destined to give pleasure and be beautiful. Or don’t they say dancers are «sex-symbols»?

To dance, with or without a partner is a social act and an artistic one. We dance at home when we are happy and we want to celebrate, with others or alone. We also dance at those important times in our lives, like the day of our wedding, on Christmas parties and of course on New Year’s Eve! They say that if one starts the year dancing one will be dancing the whole year! Smashing good!

(C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

El tercero…y último…es un cuadro que he titulado «Fiesta». La técnica, acrílico sobre tela y mide 50x60cm. Se imponen, sobre un fondo abstracto dominado por los colores rosas y amarillos, cinco siluetas, tres bailando, una haciendo unos movimientos gimnásticos y uno tocando un tambor. Se palpa el movimiento en la composición, se sienten los golpes en el cuero del tambor, se respira la alegría de los bailarines y de todos…

Concluyendo, digo que bailar es una reacción humana que surge cuando estamos felices, cachondos o cuando queremos alabar al Dios que nos creó. Los bailarines somos nosotros, la música nos motiva y nos hace movernos al ritmo de un tambor o de una pandereta, pero la música que mas nos ha de hacer bailar está dentro de nuestros oídos y nadie más la puede escuchar…

The third, and last one, is titled «Fiesta» («Party»). It is done with acrylics on canvas and measures 50x60cm. The composition is made with an abstract background, mostly in rose and yellows wherein five silhouettes abide. Three of them are dancing, while one is doing some gymnastic-type movement and one is playing a drum. One can feel the movement, one can hear the pounding on the drum and one can sense the joy of the dancers and all…

In conclusion I will say that dancing is a human reaction that surges within us when we are filled with happiness, when we feel sexy or when we want to praise the God of our creation. We are the dancers and music motivates us and makes us move either to the rhythm of a drum or a tambourine. But the music that really makes us dance is the one that only we can hear and no one else can…

(Imagenes, de los cuadros pintados por Francisco Bravo Cabrera, son propiedad de Francisco Bravo Cabrera y no pueden ser reproducidas sin permiso escrito. Derechos Reservados. C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

(Images of the paintings done by Francisco Bravo Cabrera are the property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera and cannot be reproduced without written permission. C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

Poem: “I am…”

(Image property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios València, C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

Like the wind…

Always moving, always ready, always fast…

And never telling anyone where I am going…

Like money

I go where I want,

where I please

and no one stops me,

I move with ease.

I am the shadow, the echo, the thought…

C.2021, Francis Bravo Cabrera, 15 NOV 2021, València, Pais Valenciá

“Surfin València!”

(Photo property of FBC, Omnia Caelum Studios 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…

Art History, P#2: Fra Filippo Lippi

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.

(Italian Quatrocentist painter)

Cheers…

Art History (Ch.1): Fra Angelico

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…

(Fra Angelico, 1395-1455)
(This painter, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II, was a master of perspective, colour, composition and facial expressions that evoked emotion)

Cheers…

Art in València…»Three Flowers»

(«Three Flowers» by Francisco Bravo Cabrera, C.2021, All Rights Reserved)

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…

Black and White Jazz-Art

(«Pharaoh Jazz», art digital original by Francisco Bravo Cabrera)

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 València…

(Room Alpha: Omnia Caelum Studios València with Bodo Vespaciano)

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.

(Hope you like, subscribe and maybe even share!)

Cheers…

I am Bodo Vespaciano…

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…