Note about 'Diálogos en el huerto'

Simply having met him would have been fantastic, but having got to know a little about Antonio López has been a priviledge, I imagine for everyone.

He is a simple and complicated man, who's artistic qualities are neither lacking nor in excess. With a rugged face and hands and enormously expressive, he is a man with a passion for art who as he says: "doesnt want to know about anything that isn't related to Art".

Genius through and through, he says what that he thinks, and thinks infinately more than he says.

Thanks to his enormous experience and meticulous study of life as the great concept, each and every one of his words are important, sometimes hard to comprehend, at times hard but always important. This doesnt make him more than just a person, but it has to be said that he is an exceptional person.

After commenting on the work of the people lucky enough to have been there shoulder to shoulder with him, I know that he comes across as sharp and direct. My humble opinion is that despite how he comes across, he only says what he feels will help the future development of the person in question, at times with care and at others with less.

He is concerned that we participate, give our opinions and above all he tries again and again, and in a short period of time, to get to know us.

Our personal history is of equal importance to him as our talent, which he feels should be regarded as simply another characteristic of an artist.

And this is it, for Antonio art is his life, because that is what it should be for someone who is attempting to be a real artist. In this sense one cannot talk about it being a profession, one should refer to it as life, because art is so intrinsically linked to our thoughts, sensations, knowledge, personal situation, ways of perceiving.... It is something more than a profession that occupies us from 9 to 5. There a not many who live so intensely even for the small things in life. I think that this is why he is at times so hard or direct because his opinion is not the only one in this life and is not always the best nor is it an absolute truth, what is certain is that he is a genuine Master who has enormous experience and has lived art for many years.

Personally I have been lucky. Luck that has been with me since the moment I had the grand opportunity to participate in these two marvelous days, luck to have spent time with a great artist and to have met fantastic people, and walk away with a little bit of each experience within me.

I feel lucky to have been able to enjoy the complementary words that Antonio expressed about my paintings, and the great lesson that he taught me in such a small amount of time. Hardly knowing me, after hearing me express myself badly, and only seeing photos of my work, I felt all the while that he knew me and my deep secrets and hidden feelings.

Thanks to those words and for having been surrounded by people who share the same feelings of restlessness and having breathed this breath of fresh air, I am ready and willing to change my wandering path once again.

Some may think that it was just another weekend and all that didnt mean anything, but for me it meant a great deal, I can assure you, and I will try to forget none of it... I dont want to forget again. I have spent a long time away from art, ever since my parents gave me so much!! and I will not forget again.

Just to have got to know him would have been enough, but apart from that and his words, having met all these people and shared so much hospitality, to have been missing this breath of fresh air for so long, after all that, I had the luxury of accompanying Antonino López to his home, in a journey to Madrid full of conversation. This city is so rich and so "full"! I am proud to say that I got to know the "master" a little bit better!! and one can't ask for more!!

I won't go on because I'm convinced that Antonio will be saying that I am being very "kitch" so I just want to say to everyone:

Many, many thanks to you all.

Karla Frechilla