Living without fear

Within the framework of the Moreatón exhibition –a characteristically ironic title–, in the MuVIM Cube, Morea presents three tables painted in Taormina for the Milanese gallery Arteborgogna, around the end of the last century. What it is about is the representation of three mummies in which two quite different sources of inspiration come together. On the one hand, they evoke the mummies and the corresponding portraits of the necropolis of Al Fayum, made in Egypt during the Roman occupation, between the 1st century B.C. and the 3rd century A.D. On the other hand, they refer to the relics of the saints Ambrose, Gervasio and Protasio of the crypt of the Romanesque basilica of Milan, whose faces of the 4th century have changed into plain but no less expressive skulls.

Of course, as usual with him, Morea does as he pleases, moves the matter into the territory of his own experience and, incidentally, surrounds it with all kinds of ornaments and allegories.

These central pieces are exhibited surrounded by large vinyl graphics where a wide selection of images appears, presented in chronological order, through which the viewer can get an idea of what has been the long artistic career of Morea, that is to say, practically forty years of painting. By the way, these images not only parade through time, but also extend in space. It is characteristic that they bear the imprint of the places where they come from, very different atmospheres which Morea has been imbued with and where he has worked: those of Pedralba, Madrid, Valencia, Doñana, Rome, Naples, Taormina, various enclaves of the East, Salvador de Bahia, Chiva...

Finally, what we find is a confrontation of death along with the review and celebration of a life. Those of us who know Morea realize how difficult it is, even in adverse circumstances, not to receive a good dose of stimulating energy from him. The mummies, in fact of interchangeable faces, do not transmit pain, but instead encourage meditation. And  it is that meditation that can lead us to the implicit recommendation in the images of the  vinyl graphics  (but also in the painting portraying Nacho Vidal, as well as he meditating between Buddhas, which is offered as a tip): that the greatest of sins is feeling alive and not taking advantage of it with due  intensity.
Vicente Jarque

Vicente Jarque