WORLDWIDE REVIEWS

“His artistic career is impressive. He stepped into the world of art the big way. His first exhibition was at the Guggenheim in New York and from that date on he has exhibited in over 150 galleries and museums throughout the world. He has received medals and honours both for this artistic and his humanitarian achievements, which in his view go hand in hand. From abstract art to classic sculpture, he is undeniably a master.

Ginés Serrán felt that this globalized and somehow lost world was lacking a symbol from the humanistic point of view. The creation of “Monument to World Peace: The Union of the World” inspired the idea of a worldwide “logo”. A Monument symbolizing a world united and at peace. He is an anthropologist, a writer, a sculptor and a painter … but most outstanding is his human quality.”

“He is considered as one of the most international contemporary artists in the world. He is the Western artist who has had more exhibitions in Asia.”

“He is a painter, an sculptor, an anthropologist, a poet, a journalist, a textbook writer, a video director, an editor, an activist on human Rights, a lecturer, an advisor to the United Nations and to the Ford Foundation, a close friend of the American Indians –his last project involves one hundred Mexican Indian villages to reduce infant and maternal mortality. He is a Renaissance man of an extraordinary artistic talent. It seems that his creativity has no limits.”

“The essentials of Ginés´ experience, when he turned full time to art, and his years in New York, beam out from his paintings –in the intensity and luminosity of his colours, in the animation of their structure, and from the aura of authority of these abstract images. Their substance, both emotional and thoughtful, wells up form the canvas and it s many-layered paint, expressive of the roots of his life experience. This is radiant yet ruminative painting which offers an experience translated into visual terms, told in the artist’s unique manner.

To all things Ginés brings a passionate sincerity: not a desperate sincerity of fanatical conviction or outlandish theory, but a quiet, in a way rather humble and smiling, purposeful approach to life. At first meeting with him you know this is a strong yet quiet personality, and also a man whose approach to people as to life in general is one of frankness and genuine commitment.”

“Las obras de Serrán son un verdadero reflejo de un vida vivida intensamente donde los países, las aventuras y el compromiso humano se mezclan. Él no sabe lo que pintan sus manos ni quiere saberlo (…). Para él, un cuadro es un fragmento de la vida del artista. Debajo de sus cuadros hay un mundo de palabras que mueren y de su silencio nace el cuadro.”

“I have followed his long professional career in the different countries of the World, and I have an enormous appreciation of his work, especially from my privileged position observatory of the Asia-Europe Foundation based in Singapore. I have been witness to his success in the southeast of Asia and the Far East.”

“He is a restless man of acute sensibilities. After studying in Seville, work and study took him all over Europe, to Canada, and the United States, to Africa and later to Cuba and Mexico, where he lived among underprivileged communities. For several years he worked in close association with United Nations agencies, supervising programs dealing with health and education, before devoting himself full-time to art. Ginés Serrán is a self taught artist and poet, winner in 1994 of Spain most coveted poetry distinction, The Garcia Lorca Award.”

“Ginés has been exhibiting in Hong Kong more than 10 years. He is an accomplished international Spanish-born abstract and mixed media artist…his work has already been acquired by many collectors and museums, including the Guggenheim of New York.”

“Ginés Serrán is a world class artist. Through his exhibitions in Singapore and elsewhere, he has helped build a cultural bridge between Spain and other countries in the world.”

“The first thing which stripes the viewer on looping at Serrán-Pagán’s multilayered canvases is the intensity and luminosity of his colours. They are radiant yet reflective abstract images which, in their numerous strata of colours and texture, seem to be expressive of his life’s experiences.”

“Serrán utiliza en todas sus obras una técnica mixta que se niega a enmarcar dentro de escuela alguna. La textura es para él tan fundamental como el color.”

“A vibrant energy springs from his canvas. They are wonderfully colourful and tactile, which indicates a disinclination to be hemmed in by the normal boundaries of time and space. Ginés is so clearly fascinated by geography and history. He is a Western artist roaming at will through his own vivid perception of Great China… He is in love with China’s past.”

“Gines´ work, a diary of his, is expressing in his personal abstract style a full emotional of his discoveries in Bali and Java and is for the Indonesian public a very interesting new vision of their own country by a Spanish artist. Our Museum is very proud to host his work.”

“The textural complexity of his mixed technique work hides secret fragments of poems worked into a painted over each painting. These hidden texts add to the subliminal meaning of his work which often bears symbols of forgotten cultures as well.”

“When I saw Ginés Serrán-Pagán’s paintings for the first time in Tokyo, I was deeply impressed by the beauty of the colours that he uses the rich and stable composition… I think that he is a genius who has a Spanish keen sense of warning of inhuman conditions.”

“Tuve la enorme alegría de conocer a uno de esos seres humanos de raro resplandor nada más verlo, a los que uno, a estas alturas de la vida, y después de haber toreado tanto, tiene la suerte, a veces, de encontrar muy de cuando en cuando; se trata, les cuento, tomen nota, del pintor, creador, Ginés Serrán-Pagán, viajero del mundo, admirable artista plástico y, sobre todo, de la aventura diaria de la vida. Grande es, grande, este Ginés… bienvenido, genial Ginés. A tu tierra y a tu gente.”

“Ginés Serrán-Pagán es, en realidad, un personaje de ficción, de novela fantástica, o más bien, de realismo mágico, a medio camino entre Gauguin y Van Gogh, pero con la cabeza muy bien amueblada por muchos años de de vida intensa y, sobre todo, diversa, alguien que desde joven fue inyectando de sensibilidad artística su notable estructura corporal sin proyectarla al mercado, cargando los depósitos para la madurez, desde su “loft” neoyorquino, donde se ha hospedado media España del mundo del arte, junto con media América India… en Ginés el arte va ligado plenamente a la vida, y su propia biografía resulta tan original, tan variada y vital como su pintura y escultura.”

“His art make us feel the gentle calm atmosphere and warmth of an unusual human being”.

“África y Europa, los continentes que el hijo de Zeus separó hace miles años al unir las aguas del Mediterráneo y el Atlántico, según la mitología griega, han sido juntados de nuevo por el artista español Ginés Serrán con su escultura en bronce Hércules y la Unión del Mundo. Sus ocho metros de altura y ocho toneladas de peso convierten al conjunto en la obra de mayores dimensiones realizada en bronce en el mundo.”

“His paintings, done with mixed technique using pieces of material and threads on a background of fabric, make our sensibility vibrate because of his clear impression, full of sincerity, palpable to the senses because of the light that flows from the palette and the impact that his reliefs cause.”

“The wealth of colours used with such adept painter lines causes the form to shimmer and vibrate, and brings it to life.”

“Rarely in time does an artist emerge with such an innate sensibility capable of self-expression in the arts as well as in poetry. Such an artist is Ginés Serrán Pagán.”

“Ginés Serrán could be compared to Tang Dynasty artist and poet Wang Wei.”

“The impact of his work has produced an important following among private collectors, corporations and government institutions. His works are part of the presidential palace of Malacañang’s collection. Today he is the Spanish contemporary artist more recognized in the Philippines.”

“At first glance, the works of Ginés Serrán Pagán bring to mind the bold and colourful paintings and sculptures of Paul Gauguin. The scenes and themes are different, but in many ways the artists are alike”.

“It is interesting to see how many people, catching a break between moments spent in busy commerce, will pause to read a little ancient poetry. An exhibition of paintings, ceramics and poems, created by a Spanish artist, Ginés Serrán, in the middle of Exchange Square, has proved popular with the general public, with many people returning several times.”

“When art works are impressive, powerful and aesthetically precious, the works available becomes too poor to describe or analyze them. And that is precisely what happens when one is confronted with Ginés Serrán. His body of work reveals an extremely interesting originality and a powerful visual language full of colour, strength and feelings. If I have to express in few words the impact of Gines´ unique and amazing art on myself, I would only say that it is pure creation, magic and genius.”

“Con su escultura en bronce La Unión del Mundo, Ginés Serrán moderniza la leyenda de Hércules para crear un emblema de paz. Transforma al héroe del Olimpo en un símbolo de unión entre los países del mundo.”

“Ginés Serrán bought and restored the oldest barn in the estate of New York, in Southampton, right off Bowden Square and North Main Street. He had a little farm there. Ginés home was an asset for all of us. All of the children in town were welcome to come and explore. Instead of being close, it was open to everyone in town. A place for writers and artists to meet and when artist needed a space to paint there was the Red barn, free, with open doors. When poets and writers associations needed a place to meet and raise funds, there was the Red Barn. A place where emerging artists and high school students could proudly show their work, where senior artists, who were often marginalized because of their age, could display their work. The Red barn represented something to all of us and it was appreciated by all of the East Enders.”

“Art is a force that transcends boundaries, bringing out the universal qualities within us and at the same time distinguishing us from each other. Thus, cultural exchanges and inter-cultural activities have been important functions of art for ages. Ginés Serrán’s works show the interrelatedness between cultures as well as their uniqueness. And in the end, we are touched by Ginés´ colours, colours that possess everything and whatever culture. And in the blending of colours, within in the palette and within ourselves, we come up with a range of new colours and new ways of looking at the world.”

“I have Ginés Serrán-Pagan’s art all over my house… He is a unique artist: There are few in the worlds like him. He is possessed with a genial imagination. He is searching for a spiritual force; a genuine art that the Western world seems to have lost.”

“My favourite anecdote about Ginés´ work: he was in his hotel room one night, itching to paint; he looked at the atypical hotel painting that hung over his bed. After all it was framed and stretched. Well…? Well, Ginés removed the painting from the wall and painted it over with one of his own creations. The following day, the maid noticed the switch, loved the painting and ran off to bring up the concierge for a look, needless to say management loved it so much so that they permanently secured it to the wall, and there it still hangs.”