Inés Medina: Round Trip
Bilbao-New York
Luis Foncillas
I was thinking about what the name Inés Medina
conjures up: long conversations on the phone, walks around
New York, her passion for her family, lunch at the Polish
restaurant, her painting, her memories of the Basque Country,
her exhibitions at the Euskal Et xea in New York, her smile. I’d
have a hard job putting all this into any sort of order, whether
her order of preference or mine; but I think all of them are part
of Inés Medina the artist, Inés Medina the mother (grandmother
too, now), Inés Medina the woman, Inés Medina the survivor,
Inés Medina and her life between the Basque Country and
New York.
I’m pretty sure that Inés the artist would have an
easier time of it in the Basque Country, in the Bilbao she loves.
If she’d stayed there, she would never have had to struggle
the way she has, the way she still does, in New York; but her
art would also have been different. We would have lost an
important part of Inés, a part that anyone visiting the exhibition
or just browsing through this catalogue can now enjoy.
Sometimes I wonder if, like so many other creative
spirit s, Inés had to leave her native country to obtain the
recognition she deserved. She shies away from accepting this
exhibition for what it is: a retrospective. I suppose that for her“retrospective” smacks of the artist at the end of his, or her, life
and creative journey; but she is still young and still has plenty
to say through her pictures, all so different yet so personal, at
least as seen through a layman’s eyes (mine in this case).
Like the city she lives in, New York, and her
work, Inés’s passion is contagious. So too is her enthusiasm,
her optimism, her tenacity; even that warm smile of hers is
infectious. I hope this exhibition and the accompanying
catalogue help the visitor see Inés Medina a little more clearly.
Anyone wishing to understand contemporary Basque art would
certainly do well to follow her creative development closely..
Luis Foncillas
US correspondent for Radio Euskadi and
Ex President of Eusko Et xea, New York
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