Paco Curbelo and Rufina Santana are Lanzarote’s leading artistic couple – and this year you’ll have a much better opportunity to get to know their work as they open their art centre in San Bartolomé to the public.
The Lanzarote Art Center will be open to the public from 10 am to 2 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, when visitors will be greeted in the reception/shop area before being led to the permanent exhibition space, sculpture garden and workshop area. You can also visit the centre at other times of the week by booking an appointment at info@lanzaroteartcenter.com.
The centre is hard to miss. Located on Calle Dos Reyes in San Bartolomé, the parking area features some of Paco Curbelo’s monumental sculptures – a stack of flat stones, two elegant towers of white spheres – while the garden next door is a glorious riot of natural colour, like Rufina Santana’s vivid paintings.
Rufina explains that the Arts Center was created in conjunction with the Curbelo Santana Foundation in 2015. “When we were younger, we were busy working on and developing our art, but around ten years ago we decided to open up to other people.”
The Foundation is a project that works with international artists, providing residences in the very heart of Lanzarote. Writers, artists, musicians, architects and photographers have all spent time in the three residences over the last years.
The arts centre has also existed for several years but has only really been publicised by word of mouth up to now. “The arts centre was inevitable” says Rufina – “When two artists marry and have another artist as a son, you’re living in an arts centre anyway.”
Rufina Santana is hugely optimistic when it comes to the possibilities of art on Lanzarote. “There is everything still to do,” she says, “That was true 50 years ago and it’s still true today.”
She gives me an amazed look when I ask whether it’s possible to run short of inspiration on Lanzarote. “It’s always inspiring,” she says, “That’s why it attracts artists”.
The changes on the island are part of that. “When we started, there were just a few British and German residents on the island. Now the island is more open, and a mix of cultures is important for a creative person.”
I ask about the legacy of César Manrique. Can it be an obstacle to other artists on the island? Rufina laughs and says “Manrique is a wonderful monster who can be a “glass ceiling” on Lanzarote, but only if the artist allows him to be. There have always been plenty of other cultural things going on the island.”
“We owe him everything” she says.
THE ARTISTS
Paco Curbelo is one of the best-known sculptors on Lanzarote, the creator of well-known public works such as the circle of dancers at Playa Honda roundabout, the camels at Uga and the sailing boat at the entry to Puerto Calero. Born in San Bartolomé, he studied Fine Arts in Barcelona before returning to his native island and devoting himself to monumental sculptures in basalt, granite and marble.
Rufina Santana was born on Gran Canaria and also studied Fine Art in Barcelona before settling on Lanzarote. She has exhibited her painting all over Europe, in the USA and in Japan. Often focussing on large-scale works that transmit the vitality and rhythm of nature, her paintings can be seen in some of Lanzarote’s most important hotels and public buildings.
The final member of the trio is their son, Néstor, who works as an illustrator and designer under the name Hugu, with a youthful style influenced by surf culture.
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