About the shipwreck of time. Josep Piera and FV Nogueroles

About the shipwreck of time. Josep Piera and FV Nogueroles
 

From 21 October to 23 November 2008
 

Oberta Room, La Nau Cultural Centre, Universitat de València

Opening hours: From Monday to Saturday From 10 h to 20 h. Sunday: From 10 to 14 h

One of our essential tasks in university is to honour people who have contributed to the knowledge of our culture and language. The only enclosure where everything seemed to be placidly normal, literature lived years of silence and persecution. Since democratic freedom was resumed, literature has filled spaces in communication, aesthetics, and knowledge, like in any other modern country. But there is still a long way to go for literature to be perceived and received normally and for writers to fight the invisibility they were often pushed to.

Josep Piera (Beniopa, 1947) is a writer with dense, plural and recognised works. As another poet said, he works to leave words to us. Right from the start he was determined, as a writer, to stand up for this normality, despite the not always favourable conditions. It was about time the poet and writer Josep Piera, whose brilliant literary works stand out in our literature, were paid public and collective homage. This exhibition -About the shipwreck of time. FV Nogueroles reads Josep Piera- is part of the tribute organised by Universitat de València.

In a gesture of generosity, the artist FV Nogueroles (Gandia, 1965) has interpreted the works of Josep Piera in his paintings. The outcome is the exhibition About the shipwreck of time. FV Nogueroles reads Josep Piera, shown to visitors for the first time at the Oberta Room of La Nau, Universitat de València. His exemplary will, dedication and artistic qualities will surely bring good luck.

Josep Piera’s words have born splendid fruit through the brushstrokes of Nogueroles. Indeed, this is a different way of saving the debris, the remains, the shavings and the feelings in the shipwreck of time. “One must paint the way one is”, said Juan Gris; “One is but oneself” says Piera. The exhibition is strongly original because it shows two powerful interpreters of the passing of time, memories being transformed into art matter.

Francesc Vicenç Nogueroles. Background

Francesc Vicenç Nogueroles i Peiró was born in Gandia in 1965. From a family working in the food industry, he completed his primary and secondary education in his town. He worked in the family business at the same time. He started his degree in València, combining practical work at the sculpture workshop of José Esteve Edo and painting studies. He finished fine arts in Seville, specialising in Conservation and Restoration.

A compulsive reader since he was young, he became especially interested in painting. In spite of his not too competitive nature, he won the first consolation prize in the 3^rd Nuevo Centro Scholarship Contest València, 1986. The following year, after a period of practical work in Guadalupe (Cáceres), he moved to Seville to resume his restoration studies. After finishing his degree, although he made his living out of conservation and restoration work, private commissions and, religious image interventions, in 1991 his principles caused him to resume an intensive painting activity. He was selected by some national competitions, such as the travelling exhibitions XXX Salón Nacional de Pintura CAM - Fundación Cultural, Comunitat Murciana, 1993, and the II Biennal de Pintura Pascual Tomás, Comunitat Valenciana, 1993. In 1994 he wins the ELCOGAS Award at the XLV Art Exhibition Ciudad de Puertollano. He then participated in a number of collective exhibitions such as «Fresca mirada», Claustre de Sant Roc, Gandia, 1994 and 1995; «Entre el Cel i la Terra», Banys Àrabs, Girona, 1998; 4^th Unicef Painting Exhibition, Sala Ibercaja, València, 1998; and «Codices Pacis», Art Galerie N, Munich, 2000. He held his first individual exhibition at the end of 1994, at Palau, Terrateig, and the Auditorium of Palma de Mallorca. In «Ca(u)sa abandonada. Objectes», Oliva, 1998, he questioned the treatement of art pieces as objects. His first non-exhibition -which condemns the possible role of artists as celebrities- was also held at the Palau, Terrateig, 2001.

His passion for literature and his creation of works based on texts are constant in throughout his career. Three painting types can be differentiated in his works: one inspired in Mediterranean cultures, one based on books about real or fictitious figures, and one with a more introspective, intimate world. Signes de la Mediterrània stands out from the first group. In the second one, we must mention some of his works presented in collective exhibitions like «Arts plàstiques a la Safor. VIè Centenari d’Ausiàs March», Beniarjó, 1997, «Homenatge a Joan M. Monjo», Gandia, 2007, in the individual exhibition El petit príncep, Llotja del Tint, Banyoles, 1997, and a series underway since 1999: Fahrenheit 451. In the third group, Quaderns del Molí, Sala Expocambra, Girona, 2000; and the landscapes and seascapes of l’Empordà, 2002 are noteworthy.

To understand his personal evolution, it is worth noting that he left the Safor county in 1996 and moved to Cambrils, Alp and Figueres, where he lived since 1998. In 2001, although he kept his studio in Figueres he moved to Barcelona. Commuting by train to his studio allows him to fill his notebooks with images suggested by books like Fahrenheit 451 or El Vaixell de Genseric. A genuine traveller, cities like Florence, London or Rome and his visits to the MNAC of Barcelona help him learn more about the classics and their treatment of images and colours.

His enthusiasm for painting is paralleled by his interest in reading. From Barcelona he follows authors like Josep Piera, who writes from La Safor. This is the thread to Puta postguerra, Barcelona, 2007, by Piera, a book on which FV Nogueroles has been working recently.

Josep Piera’s background

Josep Piera i Rubio was born in 1947 in Beniopa (today one of Gandia’s quarters). From a family of greengrocers, he completed his primary education at the religious school of the Escolàpies of Gandia and his secondary studies at the Escolapis, also in the same town. After working with his father for some time, he did his military service in Valladolid and Majorca. Living both in València and Gandia, he completed a teaching degree.

He was already interested in literature as a young man, especially in poetry. He started to publish his works in Spanish. Áve Fénix, Malaga, 1971, and Qasida, València, 1972. Natanael earns him the Award Ausiàs March of Gandia in 1973.

He started writing in Valencian as from that moment, publishing the poetry collection Renou: la pluja ascla els estels: Renou, València, which gave way to a long list of titles, among which we find El somriure de l’herba, Barcelona, 1980 (Carles Riba Award, 1979), and the compilation Dictats d’amors (poesia 1971-1991), Barcelona, 1991. His research on Valencian poetry leads to the production of a number of anthologies of  Arabic-Valencian poets, and the essay El paradís de les paraules, Barcelona, 1995 (Josep Vallverdú Award 1994), his crowning achievement in this period.

Piera has also written prose. Although he began by writing a novel Rondalla del retorn, València, 1978 (Andròmina Award 1977), his narrative works can be divided into three groups: travelling in the Mediterranean, literary biographies of our most relevant figures, and autobiography. Some works from the first group are outstanding: El Cingle Verd, Barcelona, 1981 (Josep Pla Award 1981); Estiu grec, Barcelona, 1985; Un bellíssim cadàver barroc, Barcelona, 1987 (Sant Joan Award 1996); and Seduccions de Marràqueix, Barcelona, 1996.

In the second group, we must note Jo sóc aquest que em dic Ausiàs March (biography), Barcelona, 2001, and the biography of Saint Francis Borgia (forthcoming). And in the third group, we cannot forget El temps feliç, Barcelona, 2001; Puta postguerra, Barcelona, 2007; and the next volume, currently being written.

Coming back to his biography, in 1974 he marries Marifé Arroyo, «the teacher», and they move to their own paradise in Drova. Piera works as a teacher for a few years but he finally gives up his teaching post to work as a professional writer. An intermittent but constant traveller, he travels the Mediterranean and makes Barcelona his literary capital.

In academic year 1985-1986 he worked as a language assistant in the Catalan Language and Literature Department of the Instituto Universitario Orientale of Naples. He was later appointed Director of The Year of Tirant (1989-1991) at the Council of Gandia and Literary Director of the publishing house Tres i Quatre (1991-1993).

His works have been translated into different European languages like Spanish, Italian, English... He was decorated with the Creu de Sant Jordi of the Catalonian Regional Government, Barcelona, 1991. In 2005 he was appointed member of the Philological Section of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans.