The Juan José Castellano Comenge Foundation (JJCC) was set up in November 2016 with two main objectives: on the one hand, to assist people who, for whatever reason, suffer social marginalisation and, on the other, to promote and encourage emerging Valencian painters or residents of Valencia.

 

It is therefore a very young foundation, yet it has started with a fast and steady pace. In 2017, it achieved its first objective, helping and collaborating economically with various institutions and private charitable associations, and will do so again in 2018.

 

As for the second objective, the Foundation, with only 18 months of existence, has promoted the I Biennial of painting M.ª Isabel Comenge to help and spread the creations and activities of emerging Valencian painters, with the most important economic prize for a painting prize in the Valencian Community.

 

And the JJCC Foundation, has wanted to be diligent and fast in this second objective of promoting and promoting Valencian painters, since I firmly believe that painting is art and that art is culture and that culture is education, wisdom and wealth, above all, spiritual, keys to shaping the heritage of a people and, in short, a better and more peaceful world.

 

I would like to congratulate the painters who have been selected in this 1st Biennial and those who have not been selected, to encourage them not to give up, but, on the contrary, to be persistent and to remember that in 2020 the JJCC Foundation has already scheduled its II Biennial.

 

The jury of the first Biennial María Isabel Comenge recognised the quality of the presented works, formal and conceptually, and also the innovative languages that can produce complexity and questioning of the contemporary painterly speeches. Despite the fact that the call is addressed to emergent artists, and also precisely for that, it has been considered the maturity of the works as well as solid bet, by attitudes in process of searching and elaboration of own routes of consciousness and conviction.

 

Although it was possible to present only one work by artist, the jury has recognised these ideas and has deliberated in each work, conscious of the ever concerning conclusion that results of a judgement of a artwork and equally the subjective and respectable artistic attempts. Maybe because of that is denominated “verdict” to the result that emits a court or jury in any discipline. From these lines we want to congratulate and express thanks to the participation of all authors. We also encourage to everybody to remain committed with the painting practice, with all complexity and rigorousness that requires. Eduardo Arroyo said that “once a painter, always a painter” and with that phrase, it is concreted, in an explicit and graphic way, the commitment and persistence that requires the artistic practise, also the attention to the artistic view.

 

We understand that all the selected are “awarded”, since their works will have the opportunity to be seen in the exhibition that will take place in the Sala Estudi General of the Cultural Centre La Nau. So the aspiration of all artwork is completed and it concludes with the contemplation and participation of the spectators. In that liturgy, that includes communication and enjoyment, makes sense all the process and work of each artist that, with each attempt, tries to describe or present a part or aspect of the world and to make it visible when it is exposed to the consensus. In this case, the diversity of the selected works is a good reflection of a contemporary eclectic and dynamic scene, as a context of the society and the vital moment of our Cultural and Social environment.

 

Finally, we want here to thank the Juan José Castellano Comenge Foundation (JJCC) for this initiative of patronage that makes possible this Biennial such opportune and necessary for the promotion and encouragement of the Arts and also to the Universitat de València for holding the exhibition of the selected works. We wish them a great career for this biennial that grows up with so much good auguries and that surely it will be consolidated as a punctual meeting about the Painting in its more alive and timeless dimension.