We are witnessing the birth of a space for artistic creation, a space for thought, for dialogue, for convergence, for creativity, a space for art that, through art, is a Meeting Point.
Meeting point between yesterday and today, between today and the future, the closest and the furthest, meeting point of person and their works, of people with their works, of their feelings and of their souls.
And why Simancas? It is a question that I have been asked many times since the beginning of this project, of this dream.
Delving into its contemporary history from the artistic point of view, a unique reference emerges, “Grupo Simancas”, allowing me to mention its most prominent members, Félix Cuadrado Lomas, Jorge Vidal, Domingo Criado, Gabino Gaona, Jacobo and Francisco Sabadell.
A group of great artists and above all of great friends, who lived life from art, for art and for art, in Simancas and from Simancas.
Can you imagine this group in Madrid, Barcelona or even in France? …
We must try to ensure that history does not repeat itself and if it does, it should be after a long time, we must support local artists who live in our rural environment and have the possibilities offered by the big cities of the big economic hubs.
What to say about the surroundings of Simancas, its Archive, its Roman bridge, the layout of its streets, the El Salvador church, the El Salvador Hospital, the megalithic tomb of the Zumacales etc. Its traditions and its people. People of Castilla, devoted, hard-working, lovers of their history, their environment, their traditions and customs.
Backyard Arte Gallery is born
The name in English of the Gallery is a declaration of intentions regarding the projection that it intends at an international level, not only of the Gallery, the artists that are part of it but also Simancas.
Backyard, patio in English, represents the space that most of the houses in the villages have as a place of recreation, endless gatherings, meals, sun, freshness, magical evenings, plants, in short, a space open to dreaming, feeling, living in the open air.
The art gallery has to be a meeting point for those from here and those from there, those from there, wherever they came from.
A meeting point where we meet the friend, the stranger who through his work is going to establish a sincere dialogue with our eyes with our feelings, with our feelings.
Perhaps at some point we feel the need to adopt, to make one of these works our own and to welcome it into our family. When a work is acquired, it is acquiring a piece of the soul, the heart and the person who created the work.
In the Gallery, we will defend the individual, the unique, the authentic, the genuine, the local, our “rural” creative environment, our hallmarks.
A movement that has come to stay and is spreading more and more called “Agro Arty” has emerged with great force throughout Europe, including in the United States.
A movement with large and small fortunes betting on art in rural areas, betting on roots, on origins and has no turning back.
The rural environment transmits us endless flavors, traditions, and authenticity that are not always collected in a General Archive, but in its people and their stories.
Our meeting point could not have been possible without the support of the town of Simancas, since we began the work, many people have passed through the Gallery and all have contributed their grain of sand so that this project, today, is already a reality.
The Gallery is a long-term project, a reality that was born in Simancas to stay, to grow and to be a model of creation, of cultural management of contemporary art from the rural environment.
We have to adapt to new times, with resilience to them.
We cannot allow ourselves to stand still, we have to keep walking the path and keep on making the path, art as people is more than what you see, it is what it feels when it is created, it is what it feels when it that is seen when we close our eyes.
The door of the Gallery will always be open because now the Gallery, as the artist’s work, once finished, ceases to belong to him, it belongs to the observer of it.
The Gallery is no longer just a physical space, now it is and must be a container of emotions, feelings and experiences, although surely more than once we hear that phrase “I don’t understand much”.
OPENING TIMES
- Friday afternoons
- Saturday and Sunday mornings
- Out of hours by appointment calling telf. 607 68 69 68 or email backyardarte@backyardartegallery.com
CONTACT INFORMATION
- Calle del Arrabal, 14
47130 Simancas (Valladolid) – España - Phone. +34 607 68 69 68
- Email: backyardarte@backyardartegallery.com