If you believe the stereotypes and clichés a Playa de Las Americas work of art would be a unusual display of blotchy sunburn, and a sculpture would be a sand castle on the dark beach. Tenerife is always ready to surprise and just a short flip flop stroll away from the sea front the Magma Arts & Congress centre has just opened its doors to the latest exhibition from Ten-Diez an art movement made up of locally based artists and creative ideas. The distinctive concrete building nestles between the water fuelled fun of Siam Park and the main bus station and has provided me with plenty of diverse stimulation since its opening in 2005.
The frontage of the Magma Arte & Congresos is a little foreboding but a very pleasing exhibition in September 2012 made me keen to see the latest offerings. Ceramics, photography, painting, sculpture, and sketching all unfolded in front of me as I entered the side hall feeding off from the main reception. A Cuban waterfront scene (top) caught my eye on the first wall, bright, full of action and with some political undertones it was my pick of works by Chloe y Zoard.
It was early afternoon and I was the only viewer but that has often been the case when I venture into large museums and galleries in Santa Cruz. Each of the 14 artists selections were accompanied by some background notes on their training and inspiration in Spanish and English. All the works are for sale with prices ranging from 800 euros to 3,750, I don’t think my pocket full of loose change would have got me far but the exhibition is free to visit. As I browsed gentle jazz burbled away over the sound system and the rough concrete walls and low ceilings added to the mood.
One of my favourite paintings was La Biblioteca de Los Sueños (library of dreams) in the main part of the hall, an acrylic work of great detail and humour by Carlos Ortega. The hall led off into a small lounge that used to service a bar but that seems to have gone now, however the smaller space had some diverse pieces such as black and white dog portraits by Andy CR and an iron sculpture, El Patron Chico, that held court in the centre of the room. I have to admit my eyes were drawn to A Little Romance, a series of semi nude photos taken by Mimi Mitsou in Tenerife, I gave them an extra close study.
It’s a good exhibition, hopefully it will encourage more local artists to get expressive. If you are near that way pop in and cast your eyes over the display. Ten-Diez is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 2pm and 3pm to 5pm, plus Saturday from 7pm to midnight. They were a little vague on how long it runs for, presumably it depends on sales and response, check out the website www.ten-diez.com