Light And Life
Menorca's expatriate artists are lured by luminescence and lifestyle, reports Ian Sclater
Kenneth Draper, RA, Lagoon, 2008, mixed media on wood, 86 x 86cm
Menorca's physical attributes are subtle, yet alluring. Devoid of huge vistas and sweeping landscapes, its beauty is unfolded through piquant glimpses rather than long, meaningful stares. These insights are reflected in artists' works. Says one: “It's not the sort of island that throws itself at you. It reveals itself slowly.”
Post-Franco, Menorca's first exhibitions and art centres emerged in the 1980s. Now, by law, there is a cultural centre in every town (Alaior even turned its cathedral into one), and thousands of euros are put up as prize money in annual art competitions. Banks also have exhibition spaces, which are made available to artists rent-free. Restaurants and cafes also host shows, and there is even a crafts centre in a former military museum.
Jean Macalpine, Distant Thunder, 2009, inkjet photograph, 57 x 46cm
Less of a bustling tourist magnet than its Balearic neighbours, Mallorca and Ibiza, Menorca is home to a colony of expatriate artists lured to the island by the oft quoted twin attractions, 'life and light'. Artmag recently visited some of them to discover how the island has influenced their work.
Husband and wife Jean Macalpine and Kenneth Draper, RA first visited Menorca in 1985, eventually settling there several years ago. Both find the island a continual source of inspiration. Says Jean: “We're landscape artists. That's what brought us here.”
Internationally recognised, Kenneth Draper studied painting at Kingston College of Art and sculpture at the Royal College of Art. He says: “I was always a painter and a sculptor. I could never decide what I was.” He was elected a member of London's Royal Academy of Arts in 1991, one of only 80 artists to receive the accolade.
Lindsay Mullen, Albufera Lakes, Menorca, 2009, 2.5 x 1.3m
He says that Menorca has “totally”
influenced his work. Drawing on what he
calls “the elemental magic and power of
nature”, his recent work combines the
physicality of sculpture with the illusions of
painting. His intricate, constructed pieces
incorporate found objects into layered resin
with painted and scratched surfaces. Prices
range from €4,000 to €25,000.
www.kennethdraper.com
Jean Macalpine trained as an artist. She explains: “I have always thought of myself as an artist who takes photographs, rather than a photographer. I look at things like an artist. I am dealing with fine art, but in photography.” In 1991, she became the first photographic artist to be shown in the Royal Academy. In describing Menorca, she enthuses about “the energy of place” and “the physicality of the landscape”.
Jean photographs flat surfaces, then sets
about transforming them through digital
manipulation. Never changing the structure
of the image, she uses colour to give it a sense
of space and depth. As if by magic, the marks
in a wall, on a sheet of aluminium or on the
underside of a boat emerge as artworks
echoing Menorca's raw, primeval landscape.
www.jeanmacalpine.com
Attracted by Menorca's soft, southern landscape and the freedom to work and survive on very little money, Lindsay Mullen first visited Menorca as a student over 30 years ago - and immediately found her artistic home. She may be the first young British artist to settle there.
Inspired by Turner, Constable and Monet, her impressionistic paintings are a response to nature and the light and atmosphere of her adopted country. She says that the island did not so much influence as form her work.
Working purely in oils (“It grows on the canvas,” she says) her landscapes, seascapes and skies are meditative works shot through with diffused light. Though her canvases are large, the scenes are intimate, not broad, little corners of a wide setting. Prices range from €500 to €30,000.
Klaus Netzle
Also like Monet, Mullen has created her
own lush garden on the outskirts of Sant Lluis,
where she also opened Hotel Biniarroca,
Menorca's first rural hotel, with co-owner and
fashion designer Sheelagh Ratliff. A hotelier
four months of the year and a full-time artist
the rest, she calls this refuge “the best picture
that I have ever painted”.
www.biniarroca.com/www/art.htm
Klaus Netzle came rather late to art after a career as a pioneer of electronic music in the 1970s in his native Germany. Born to a painter mother and a photographer father, he did not do art himself until he moved to Menorca in the early 1990s.
Now, his Dadaist pop sculptures seem to pour out of him, as he fills his rural, hilltop home, studio, garden and even the surrounding landscape with a playful melange of paintings, installations, wall pieces and mobiles.
Liz Spooner, Fiesta magic, Cales Fonts, oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm
He is continually experimenting with new things to incorporate into his art. Found materials are constant components, from horse shoes, bits of furniture and machine parts to coat hangers, wheels and old doors, and lights seem to be a current favourite. The overall effect is of the experience of living in nature, with things coming and going, rotting and growing.
Raised in the Derbyshire countryside, Liz Spooner has lived in Menorca since 2004. Painting in oils on perspex (“The colours explode,” she says), she applies to her art what she calls “the chaos theory”, starting each work by filling the canvas spontaneously before completing it in layers using different techniques.
Ron Webb
Nicknamed the 'Poppy Lady' for her favourite subject, the wild countryside, she explains how she approaches her work: “I tend to do a series of paintings of the same thing. I get the paint down, create an atmosphere, then work on it with a spatula. I like opposite, resonant colours.”
Of how Menorca affects her work, she says:
“I really like the energy. I'm bombarded by
inspiration. Everything is so close - fields, sea,
fiestas.” Prices range from €200 to €4,000.
www.poppylady.com
When we met in October 2010, Ron Webb was still enjoying the honour of having been placed first among nearly 60 artists in the publicity for the recent biannual 'Migjornale' exhibition in his nearby village.
Originally from Chelsea and a Menorca resident for nine years, he cites his inspirations as late Monet and Mark (“Saint”) Rothko.
In describing how Menorca inspired his work, he says: “The light gave me such energy and confidence in what I was doing. I was throwing paint at the canvas.”
Always seeing something showing through in a work at the first wash, he uses layering to get effects. “There are a lot of happy accidents,” he says.
He continues: “I hate seeing an artist who
never changes. It's boring. I'm not a religious
person at all, but I look for spirituality and depth
in my painting.”
www.ronaldwilliamwebb.com
Further info www.menorca.es
