Eduardo Valiña: after the fire

Despois do incendio, an exhibition by Eduardo Valiña (O Páramo, Lugo, 1972) that reflects on rurality, territory and the fragility of the balance between humans and nature, opens at Les Golfes de Casa Canals del Mèdol. The artist, a key figure in the Galician artistic scene since the nineties, has developed a body of work that reflects on memory, identity and environmental conflict, addressing these issues with a very powerful visual language.

Valiña's work is deeply rooted in his homeland, Galicia, a territory marked by exuberant nature but also by a history of destruction and exploitation. His painting and his interventions in the landscape are a response to the constant tension between past and present, between permanence and transformation. Despois do incendio not only refers to forest fires, one of the great ecological problems of the region, but also to the wider wounds that mark the territory and its people. Through a staging loaded with symbolism, Valiña explores how nature resists destruction, in a process of struggle that is reflected in each piece of the exhibition.

O espectáculo da periferia II, Edu Valiña (2010)

Valiña's style is characterized by a combination of traditional pictorial techniques with more experimental elements. In this exhibition, the artist plays with rough textures, earthy colors and materials that directly evoke Galician nature such as soil, wood and ash. His works are a testimony to a territory that struggles to survive, and in them one can perceive both pain and hope. In addition to his career as an artist, Valiña has developed important work as an independent curator, promoting projects such as Procesalia or the SACO Arte Contemporáneo Biennial. His peripheral perspective, always interested in the dynamics of rurality and the tensions between center and margin, is also reflected in his work, which often starts from a deep investigation of the territory and its narratives.

Despois do incendio, which can be visited from Thursday, March 13th until April 30th, is part of the Cultura Verda program, an event that brings together different artistic initiatives around the environmental crisis and sustainability. Its presence in this context underlines the ecological dimension of its work and the need to address environmental issues through artistic creation.

Zona delicada, Edu Valiña (2010)