Art in the vineyards
Artistic creation and wine culture are growing side-by-side with venues and events that are transforming wine cellars and turning fields into museums
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Evru next to his bell ‘Dongna’ in Vinya dels Artistes José Carlos León/Juanma Ramos. -
Orgue de camp, by Josep Guinovart; José Carlos León/Juanma Ramos. -
Entre el cel i la terra, by Gregorio Iglesia José Carlos León/Juanma Ramos. -
A scene from the Vijazz festival José Carlos León/Juanma Ramos. -
Head of the Palmadotze art gallery in Santa Margarida i els Monjos, Pilar Carbonell, pictured with her daughter Anna. José Carlos León/Juanma Ramos.
Vinya dels Artistes seeks to express the harmony of land and art
In the end, everything goes back to the earth, art as well as life. So, it is no surprise that in Catalonia there should be a strong link between the vineyard and art, between wine making and creativity.
In Penedès, visitors to the Jean Leon winery in Torrelavit were this year able to see the exhibition, El Minotaure al Laberint by Josep Guinovart. Not too far away, in the Palmadotze gallery, located in a 15th-century mansion in the small village of Santa Margarida i els Monjos, and run by Pilar Carbonell, is to be found art and wine coexisting among the vineyards.
“Guino” and the land
Meanwhile, Guinovart’s Espai in Agramunt last week opened an exhibition on Waltraud Maczassek, wife of Miguel A. Torres, of Bodegues Torres, who created a wine bearing her name.
In another wine region, Les Garrigues, in La Pobla de Cérvoles is to be found the Mas Blanch i Jové winery, which has sought to express the harmony of land and art with an open-air museum, the Vinya dels Artistes, inspired by Josep Guinovart, an artist whose work coincided with nature: “Guinovart is in favour of organic, living art. He thought museums were like mausoleums,” says Sara Jové, manager of the cava producer, Mas Blach i Jové.
Sara used to attend the meetings that Guinovart held with her parents, over a rustic paella next to the plot of land that would become the future Vinya dels Artistes, which was opened in 2010. “We have tried to give his legacy form,” she says. Before he died, Guinovart created a large 10-metre work called L’orgue de camp, which is now proudly displayed in the winery. Since 2010, every year a work of art by a renowned artist is commissioned and displayed in the Vinya dels Artistes. The first after Guinovart, was by the artist, musician and author, Carles Santos, who created the musical show ViSonor. The dinner was attended by 400 people, a tradition that still continues. Esteve Casanoves, Joan Brossa, Gregorio Iglesias, Susanna Solano and Frederic Amat are among the artists who have continued the task of finding parallels between the creative process and the land.
Only a few weeks ago, the Vinya dels Artistes received a new piece by Evru, a bell titled, Dongna. The bell makes the sound that has always brought together the people living in rural areas. The work also featured in a retrospective exhibition that the Reina Sofia museum devoted to the artist when he still operated under his former pseudonym of Zush.
Cinema and music
Yet the art-vineyard link goes further. Vilafranca del Penedès every year holds Vijazz, a festival that combines international jazz artists with wine tasting and other related activities. Joan Tarradas, the director of the festivals, says: “At the beginning we had the jazz audience and the wine audience. Now we have managed to get our audience to taste jazz and hear wine.”
Also in Vilafranca, the Cineclub Vilafranca and the Vinseum wine museum organise the Most, the International Film Festival of Wine and Cava, which in autumn holds its 7th edition, with screenings of films related to the world of wine and various complementary activities.