por Ignacio Zara

Last 10th of July/2009, Yareah magazine (http://www.yareah.com/) had the honour of presenting MAC work in Spain.
This institution is leaded by Alvaro Lobato de Faria, a professor of Mathematics who had a dream 15 years ago: to promote contemporary art in Portugal creating a private institution of artistic and cultural exchange.
Nowadays, an art gallery, a movement, a place of gathering for artists, a school for the younger ones, a house of Portuguese Culture, a vibrant institution based on passion and action are a reality. However, the dream continues and Mac desires to spread its artists and authors' works beyond Portugal borders.

 

Spain, a neighbour country, is one of its objectives. Our common culture and history and our similar taste for art and literature suit well. Do not forget that Diego Velázquez had a second family name: da Silva, a Portuguese family name.
Yareah magazine (leaded by the Spanish writer Martín Cid) is a bilingual (English-Spanish) cultural magazine. The bilingual idea using two of the most speaking languages of the world (English and Spanish) is the logical result of its main objective: to share as much as possible ideas and every kind of cultural works. Therefore, to introduce the Contemporary Art Movement in Spain was for it a privilege and a necessity too. Not only is Portuguese art and literature a European result but it is influenced by Brazilian and African (Mozambique and Angola) artistic manifestations and it can be fantastic to hear its infinite voice.
For example, Isabel del Río, arts editor in Yareah magazine, is really fond of Roberto Chichorro, a great artist born is 1941 in Maputo (Mozambique) who worked in Spain in the 80's before moving to Lisbon and starting to collaborate with MAC. His works, full of fetishism and strong colours are constantly telling us about Africa and African feelings. Jaime Hernández de la Torre, a Spanish painter, collaborator of Yareah magazine and participant in the presentation, spoke about Antonio Inverno, his marvelous serigraphies and his deep knowledge of African culture, where he has frequently collaborated.
Mac works with very many outstanding Portuguese artists as Figueiredo Sobral, Rogerio Amaral, Lourdes Leite, Ana Tristany (Mac revelation reward in 2009)... but it works with artists of other nationalities. For example, the Spanish poet Héctor Martínez Sanz, spoke about the German artist Alfred Opitz and his symbolic paintings, some of them exhibited in Mac gallery.
In the meeting, Silvia Cuevas Mostacero from Yareah magazine, Horia Barna from I.C.R. and the artists Miedho, Bogdan Ater (Mac artistic reward/2008), Romero Niram (Mac reward/2009) and Constantin Popa participated too.

The meeting had place in Espacio Niram. This nice bar-lounge has been rewarded with the Mac prize/2009 too, do not lose it:
C/ Independencia, 2- Madrid (metro Opera)
http://www.espacioniram.com/