Mexican artist, Enrique Fuentes is no stranger to travelling the globe. One minute he is in America, the next in Tokyo. He has homes and studios in Paris, Berlin and his home country and has exhibited all over the world, from Shanghai to Salzburg.Yet he admits that some of his best pieces of work have been created in Tenerife where he is inspired by the light, the weather and the ocean.
“When I left Mexico to work in Europe for seven years, I always thought I was missing something but I never knew what it was,” says Enrique, who is 29. “But when I came to Tenerife and saw the beautiful clear sky and the stars, I knew it was that. It reminds me so much of Mexico.”
It’s fitting, therefore, that pieces of work destined for a multitude of locations are currently on show in Tenerife, Enrique’s first solo exhibition on the island which he has made home from November to April for the last four years. He hopes it will be the first of many here and that people will come to look at his unusual work and form their own opinions of the shapes and objects may emerge from his paintings.
They will mean different things to different observers. In one, I instantly spot the face of a horse, with a human head seemingly on the ground below. Another, Flowers of Evil, has nothing chilling about it for me with its pinks and bursts of energy. There is a trio of paintings, The Firebird, inspired by the music of Stravinsky and a series of four windows which look like prints but are again oil on paper, a very unusual and unorthodox technique with which Enrique is experimenting.
My favourite, however, is a 160cm by 120cm oil painting on paper entitled Marina 11 where you can detect the outline of a boat against the deep blue ocean or the sky.
Enrique never thought he would be inspired by the sea but his studio in the south of Tenerife overlooks the Atlantic and so, by coincidence, does the venue which is hosting his exhibition for the next few months. The El Nautico Bistro and Gallery is on the sea-front at Golf del Sur in the most beautiful of locations and as you admire Enrique’s pictures, you can see the waves beyond through the big picture windows. It’s a lovely place to visit as you can walk along the meandering promenade, stop for a coffee, then enjoy a meal in the bistro and visit the exhibition. Go round the one-way system and turn right into Calle San Miguel when you see the sign for El Nautico opposite a parade of bars on the left.
Opening the gallery adjacent to the bistro is a new venture and the two blend well together. Indeed, the exhibition in the gallery continues into the restaurant where further examples of Enrique’s work hang on the walls and in the snug. Amazingly, the colours match those of the bistro exactly in warm reds and browns and I have to ask if they were painted especially but, no, they were completed months before the exhibition was even contemplated.
Enrique came to Tenerife to become the assistant of the Austrian painter, Arnulf Rainer. Being Mexican, he speaks Spanish, as well as perfect English, and is trying to be at the gallery each evening from about 5.30pm for an hour to chat to anyone interested in his work.
There are about 30 works on show and all are for sale, ranging in price from around 1,000 euros to 5,900 euros.
Enrique says his style is not abstract but it is always evolving. Traditionalists might well raise their eyebrows about his use of oil on paper, rather than canvas, and perhaps even more so when they learn he often uses his fingers rather than brushes and likes to paint at night. But the results are stunning and are becoming collectors’ items throughout the world.
The gallery is open the same hours as the bistro ie from 5pm Tuesday to Saturday (there are themed nights on a Wednesday with a taste of India and fish and chips on a Friday) and from 4pm on a Sunday when you can enjoy Canary chicken. Ring 922 72 79 80 if you would like any further information about either the bistro or the gallery and you might also like to visit www.enriquefuentes.net to discover more about Enrique and his work.
Article appears in Tenerife News edition 370
