"I leave with the feeling that painting is not so difficult when you place yourself in the right place and when someone near you points you in an interesting direction". This is what Antonio López said at the University of Navarra during the closing ceremony of the 10th edition of the painting workshop 'Masters of figuration', which also impates the Navarrese artist Juan José Aquerreta.

The painter from Tomelloso pointed out that in just five conference it is very interesting to see how they work the works in a natural way and without betraying each one their own individuality: "They paint like 'wild beasts' and a brotherhood is created, which is uncommon in many spaces. The way of learning in these workshops is a piece that is missing in the regulated teaching ".

Since Monday, June 6, the realist teachers have shared classroom and experiences with 26 students of different ages and backgrounds. Antonio López has assured that it has helped him to "have the courage to start a painting as it should be done", as he himself insists to his students.

The masters of figuration have confirmed that after this workshop they will continue working on pending projects, two of them in the Comunidad Foral. On the one hand, the continuation of the portrait of Ángel José Gómez-Montoro, President of the University of Navarra between 2005 and 2012; and on the other, the completion of the tabernacle commissioned by the parish priest of San Esteban de Gorráiz, which they hope to be able to submit this year.

"The great finding of Art has been abstraction."

One of the highlights of the workshop has been the roundtable Realists of Madrid, conversations between masters of figuration', with the participation of Antonio López, Julio López and Juan José Aquerreta.

During the roundtable, held on Wednesday, June 8, Antonio López stated that "the great finding of Art has been abstraction", which has allowed the artist to express emotions with color and subject. "Abstraction has been diluted in the languages of art since Altamira although it has not been until a specific moment when artists were aware of its existence," he indicated.

The event, moderated by Art History professor Asunción Domeño, was attended by more than 200 people , including students, professors, staff of the academic center and citizens of Pamplona.

The united search concern of the realists of Madrid

Asked about their beginnings in the 1950s as group in Madrid, Antonio López and Julio López recalled that their work was centered on the natural. "At that time, Spain was living a frightening cultural narrowness, it was closed to any movement and to any orientation open to the future. Artists were born spontaneously and guided by an innate impulse staff ," said Julio Lopez. In this sense, he emphasized that the most important thing for him was "the contact with friends who, coming from different social situations and with different mentalities, had the restlessness of a united search".

"The Thyssen's exhibition has allowed us to think that we have done something of value."

On the success of the recent exhibition of the Thyssen Museum, Antonio Lopez announced that it is very likely to be taken to Russia, and said he was satisfied with it: "It has allowed us to think that we have done something of value".

For his part, Julio López added that "there was a humble truth of not wanting to be in the game of notoriety. We have not achieved anything other than companionship among us".

Asunción Domeño closed the roundtable with a nod to the quality of the works of the women artists who have been part of this exhibition. Two of them are María Moreno and Esperanza Parada, wives of Antonio López and Julio López respectively. In this sense, Juan José Aquerreta emphasized that women's art is truly different: "It is a mystery for our civilization what women can mean. There has not yet been enough evolution for women to take their place in the history of mankind".