Located in Barcelona’s charming old town district of El Borne, the European Museum of Modern Art, better known as the MEAM, is housed in Palau Gomis, a lovingly restored 18th century Renaissance-style palace hidden among the rows of tightly-packed historic buildings lining the enchanting narrow winding streets one loves to get lost in.

The MEAM is operated by the Fundació de les Arts i els Artistes — Catalan for the ‘Arts and Artists Foundation’ — which is a privately funded initiative that promotes 20th and 21st century art. The Foundation’s raison d’être is to counteract the tunnel vision marketing of abstract and modernistic art by powerful tastemakers and art speculators, in order to support figurative (i.e., representational / realist) artists .The MEAM’s prestigious collection currently includes more than 1500 works of art by 300+ artists hailing from five different continents, not only illuminating the diversity of contemporary artistic expression within the realm of realism but also reminding the world that modern art need not be devoid of beauty, artistry, meaning, or craftsmanship.

The reason of sending my entry for  Figurativas 2019 was when I saw the list of jury members for the prestigious event with the international Jury including the names of the living masters, like Antonio Lopez Garcia, Odd Nerdrum, Jacob Collins, Alex Kanevsky and Eduardo Naranjo. which met and selected only 57 finalist out of some 2000 entries received worldwide . My work “Song of the River “tempera on a gessoed wood panel exhibited was the only Indian entry representing India among the Asians, European and Americans in a packed opening museum party on 6th December. My work eventually went into the permanent collection of the Museum (MEAM) whose acquisition committee had shown a keen interest to acquire it.

That Friday evening on 6th December,2019 the well-attended awards ceremony was hosted by José Manuel Infiesta, director of the MEAM, and Tomás Paredes, president of the Association of Spanish Art Critics, with many of the participating artists and hundreds of guests in attendance. The room was completely filled with people — standing room only — while the director gave an impassioned speech and announced the winning artist and ten honorables mentions for their accomplishments., the biennial Figurativas Painting and Sculpture Competition is an important international player bolstering the revitalisation, advancement, and elevation of excellence in fine realism. It is a testament to the strength of contemporary realism, proving it continues to be relevant, interesting, and alluring.

This awe-inspiring international event had artists from all over the world present and hundreds of people in attendance, showcasing the truly international nature and collaborative spirit of this new wave in contemporary art.

SUMAN GUPTA

Barcelona, Spain, 6th December, 2019