The first prize work (15.000 euros) has been ‘Vent du nord’, an acrylic on canvas(200x280cm) of Nelo Vinuesa Vila (Valencia, 1980). He is graduated in Fine Arts of the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia. Vinuesa has organised seven individual exhibitions and has been part of more than ten collections. Furthermore, he has received different awards and grants, such as the grant CAM visual arts of London. ‘Vent du nord’ is included in the project “Atlas” and represents the synthesis of the search during the residence grant in the Velázquez House in Madrid that received the artist in 2016.

The work process of the Valencian artist is inspired by classic painting, mediaeval miniatures and illuminated manuscripts, the schematic aesthetic of the Arcade videogames, computerized images, science-fiction or architecture. But at the same time, the colour scheme is especially relevant, with its symbolism and psychological aspect by the point of view of the perception and the multiple meanings. According to the painter and the juror Horacio Silva, it is a piece of neopop style, with a great elaborated technique and a new language, “that surprises”.

The second prize (7.000 euros) has been for Juan Olivares Luque (Catarroja, 1973), with the work ‘J’aime l’émotion qui corrige la règle III’, a vinyl painting on paper with high weight, framed in methacrylate (166x248cm). The work gives the title to its last series of collages, technique which he has focused his plastic search in the last years. All his work forms a poetic weave that questions the formal limits of the pictorial and its relation with the lived space.

Appart from the two economic prizes, two secondary prizes have been awarded: the work ‘Flexible #5’, an acrylic on canvas (160x160cm) of Carolina Valls (Valencia, 1980), and a work of the series ‘BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK’ of Keke Vilabelda (Valencia, 1986), made with cement, acrylic, silicone and photographically transfer, framed in aluminium (200x140cm).

A total of 122 artist have joined the first call of the Biennial Painting Mª Isabel Comenge. 16 finalists have been selected, with a wide variety of techniques and materials. The variety of painting techniques and artistic language is a result of the freedom of topics that had participants. The awarded works will be part of the Art Collection of the Juan José Castellano Comenge Fundation. It has around 145 works of distinguished artists of the 20th century.

The exhibition will be opened this afternoon at 20h in the Estudi General Room of the Cultural Centre La Nau of the Universitat de València. The 16 selected works will be available there. In this act, the decision of the jury will be public. The jure is composed by: Horacio Silva, full university professor of Paintinf of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and painter, vice-principal of Students, Culture and Sports of the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia; Antonio Ariño, vice-principal of Culture and Sport of the Universitat de València; José Luis Pérez Pont, director of Consorci de Museus of the Valencian Community, Elena Gandía, trustee of the Juan José Castellano Comenge Fundation and technician of museums of Museo del Prado and IVCR+i, and the president of the Fundation, Juan José Castellano Comenge.