Last summer, Halcyon Gallery, which had already earned a mention and praise from Brit Es, offered us a private pass to their new Pedro Paricio exhibition.
It goes without saying that the artist, a Canary Islands native, left his public open-mouthed. Both the main gallery and the upper floor were bursting with colour. But for those who haven’t visited Halcyon, what’s striking is that it’s one of the largest private galleries in London; palatial, with a high ceiling and columns.
In fact, this article won’t be completely given over to Pedro, whom we have already interviewed here. This time I’m going to focus on the gallery that took a chance on him and other artists; offering up a very diverse range of products to the demanding London public; the link between them being these majestic walls and elegant spiral staircases. The gallery also has an outpost in China, home to several of their artists. They took part in the “Pinta London” and “Singapore Stage” art shows.
Chatting to Simón Quintero, artist programme manager, I discovered that Halcyon is not only a space where selected artists display and sell their work. Here, we found important patronage work taking place. Artists are helped through the provision of materials and transportation services, the organisation of international exhibition projects and much promotional work through social media. “For us, it is crucial that the artist is happy and able to work without distractions.“
Simón Quintero (Artist Programme Manager at Halcyon Gallery): “The great thing is that there is so much talent in Spain and I’m proud to see artists like Pedro Paricio or Ernest Cánovas gaining prominence both here in the UK and beyond”.
Simon is one of the numerous Spanish professionals that have made strides in London’s imposing urban jungle. His job is to maintain harmony between all parties involved in gallery exhibitions. He also, on a continual basis, makes visits to shows, artist workshops and art centres: in search of new ideas and new talent. Obviously, I asked him if, as a Spaniard, he in some way preferred gallery entries from Spanish artists. He replied that he has never had favourites based on nationality. The Spanish artists in the gallery got their due to their enormous talent. “The great thing is that there is so much talent in Spain, and I’m proud to see artists like Pedro Paricio or Ernesto Cánovas gaining prominence both here in the and beyond”.
These two artists are the Spanish offerings at Halcyon:
Ernesto Cánovas is a fascinating artist from Barcelona, interviewed by Brit Es Magazine, before having been selected by Halcyon Gallery. We had the opportunity of going back to see him at the unveiling of his first exhibition at this gallery, “An American Trilogy”, which featured a series of film stills, taken from westerns, printed in wood. He drew a great response from critics and promises to surprise in future exhibitions.
Pedro Paricio and his latest exhibition “Shaman”, are currently making waves. The exhibition finished last 27th of July and we also invite you to take a look at the catalogue, to which I have had the pleasure of contributing through a text about a series called: “The Spirit of Painting”.
We hope that we get the chance to cover more, including a monthly event at Halcyon Gallery.
Other artists on display at Halcyon Gallery: Eve Arnold, John Bauer, Dale Chihuly, Wu Ching Ju, Bob Dylan, Mitch Griffiths, Simon Gudgeon, Santiago Montoya, Dashi Namdakov, Mauro Perucchetti, Lorenzo Quinn and David Wightman.
[su_note note_color=”#eaeae9″]Translated by William Carter[/su_note]
