ART AS IT EXITS

The Magnificent Canvas of Alvar

It all seems so romantic, so inspired. I can hear the soundtrack to the movie they make about him--a powerful symphony--and I see the sunset over the Mediterranean, and feel the soft breeze and smell his paint. And he sits, Alvar, the artist, watching the ocean, contemplating his life. It's like a dream I have, the kind that makes me shiver when I wake up in the darkness. And I think about this dream all day, as I drive to work, not quite awake, with hundreds of other people who are not quite awake, and drinking coffee, and going to the school where I teach, and telling kids to sit down over and over and over, and going to the gym to let out frustrated energy, sweating, and then driving home in the dark, not quite awake with hundreds of other people who are not quite awake, and lying in bed, writing about this dream, of Alvar and his love and his art, until I fade out and try to find this life in my dreams again.

But it's real. A small town outside Barcelona, an artist, a life of inspiration and encouragement. Alvar Sunol Munoz-Ramos, known simply as "Alvar" in the art world, grew up in Montfat, a Catalan fishing village on the Mediterranean Coast. Born in 1935, Alvar attended the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes do San Jorge, the fine art school in Barcelona. He started showing his work when he was 22, with his first oneman show at the Galleries Layelanda, Barcelona. His exhibit was extremely successful and soon he was showing all over Spain. While serving in the military, one of his canvasses won grand prize in the annual painting competition at the Institut Francais, Barcelona. His prize was a trip to Paris, and he arrived in 1959 to the great city, to paint and explore his fortune.

"It's very soothing and ethereal," says Anne Laurie Twarogowski, a local Denver artist, as she looks at some of Alvar's work. She likes to comment on first impressions. "Immediately, I find his transparent, fluid brushstroke calming and intriguing, and I sense a gentle emotion and some kind of symbolic narrative behind it."

Alvar's first Paris oil paintings were brought to the Parisan Gallerie Drouant. All of them were sold in just one week. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Rosella Berenyuer, in 1960, an impressive career followed with shows and acclaim all over the world. His art follows a theme of capturing the uniqueness of life in his rural Spanish province of Catalonia, while celebrating passions and actions common to all humanity.

Sebastia Gasch, one of the first critics to study his work, was quoted as saying, "The art of Alvar Sunol is love; love of the material of painting, passionate pathetic love for that material; and love of life. Describing what 'exists' is not easy. Can the wind be described? And the sea? In the work of Alvar, there exists something, a something which defies description."

Today, Alvar resides outside Barcelona, creating oil paintings, lithographs, watercolors, bronze, ceramic bas relief, and precious metal sculpture. He will be showing his work in Denver at the Masters Gallery at the Belleview Promenade in Greenwood Village. Please call the Masters Gallery at 303-221-2449 for more information.

-Paige Kaltsas