Lanzarote will have from next year 2015 a great museum of one of the most prominent Canarian artists of the 20th century. The tourist town of Puerto del Carmen will host the permanent exhibition of 600 works by the artist born in Agaete, Pepe Dámaso, following the agreement signed by the City Council of Tías and the Dámaso Foundation.
The Canary Islands Arts Award winner, recently invested Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pepe Dámaso, has presented this morning at a press conference with the mayor of Tías, Pancho Hernández, the future museum dedicated to his great artistic legacy that will exhibit works donated by Dámaso to the people of Lanzarote, through the City Council of Tías.
Also present at the presentation were the deputy mayor and councilor of Culture, Jerónimo Robayna, the deputy mayor, councilor of Urban Planning and spokesperson for the PP in Tías, Saray Rodríguez, the councilor of Tourism, Nerea Santana, and the art expert commissioner Carmensa de la Hoz, a personal friend of Pepe Dámaso and former collaborator of César Manrique.
During the event, Pepe Dámaso exhibited the sketches of the great mural that will go on the exterior of this new museum, which will be located in a building owned by the City Council of Tías on César Manrique street, corner of Ramblas Islas Canarias, an artery that will register an important transformation with the Modernization Plan and the General Plan of Tías.
The mayor of Tías, Pancho Hernández, stated that "this museum, which will be a reality in months, is part of the project that we have from our government group to relaunch Puerto del Carmen as a great destination. Culture, with the works of the two greatest contemporary artists that the Canary Islands has had in the 20th century, will be united with tourism. This museum will have an important collection of paintings and documents that Pepe Dámaso has shown his willingness and commitment to donate to Lanzarote, through the City Council of Tías. We want to make Tías, Puerto del Carmen and Lanzarote a benchmark for culture and tourism. We thank Pepe Dámaso for his high gesture in donating to Tías this very valuable part of his great artistic legacy that will be protected by the Parliament of the Canary Islands".
Dámaso, linked to Lanzarote
Pepe Dámaso, very excited during the presentation, commented that he has always been very linked to Lanzarote, "an island where I lived for 40 years when I lived with César Manrique. I always wanted my legacy, not having children, to always be for the people of the Canary Islands. That is why I am in negotiations with the Parliament of the Canary Islands to be the guardian of all my work".
He stressed that "his wishes will be fulfilled. The work of my first part as an artist will be for exhibition in Agaete, my hometown, and today I am proud that the first museum to open in the Canary Islands for my work is in Lanzarote, an island that has given me so much, and where, in addition, the collection that I have of works, documents, photographs and films of my friend César Manrique will be exhibited".
Dámaso revealed that he arrived in the municipality of Tías last autumn invited by the City Council of Tías to advise on an intervention in a viewpoint on the Puerto del Carmen Maritime Promenade. "There I found the inspiration, I saw a seagull that took flight. I think it was Manrique who appeared to me again. This bird inspires this great mural that I am showing for the first time in public and will go on the exterior of this Museum that will open in Lanzarote. From now on everything will depend on the City Council of Tías and its authorities. I trust them, they have shown me great enthusiasm, vitality and desire to carry out this project. It will be a reality".
A building dedicated from its origins to art
The mayor, who has been with the Councilor of Culture Jerónimo Robayna, recalled that this building that will house the first museum of Pepe Dámaso in the Canary Islands, which will open in 2015, has been acquired, along with its large gardens, by the City Council of Tías in the late 80s of the last century and has always been dedicated to art. Now, from 2015, Puerto del Carmen will enter among the great destinations that will unite culture and tourism with this museum that will exhibit the works of two of the greatest artists of the Canary Islands, Pepe Dámaso and César Manrique. The mayor of Tías thanked Pepe Dámaso for his enormous generosity in donating his artistic legacy to the Canarian people, and that Tías is the municipality that houses his works donated to the island of Lanzarote.
The pre-agreement of the donation between the Dámaso Foundation and the City Council of Tías has been recently signed at the City Council of Tías with the presence of Dámaso, the mayor of Tías, Pancho Hernández and the deputy mayor and Councilor of Culture, Jerónimo Robayna.
Among the artistic works, documents and archives that Dámaso donates to the island of Lanzarote, through the City Council of Tías as depositary, "it is highlighted that among the 600 works would be included his particular collection of works by César Manrique as well as the documentation, photographic archives, correspondence and cinematographic material that the artist preserves of the 40 years of friendship with his friend César Manrique".
The City Council of Tías was aware of the wishes of the artist Pepe Dámaso for his artistic legacy to be present in all the islands of the Canary Archipelago. Thus, he transmitted his request last autumn for Tías to host this important legacy with more than 600 works, within a global agreement that the Dámaso Foundation will sign with the Parliament of the Canary Islands as guardian of all his artistic legacy.
This Thursday the Board of the Parliament of the Canary Islands has met in Lanzarote in which progress has been made on the details about the wishes of the Canarian artist for his work and artistic legacy to be present in each of the islands of the Canary Archipelago. In this meeting of the Board of the Parliament were present all the representatives of the Board and its president, Antonio Castro Cordobez, as well as Dámaso.
