JUAN ROLDÁN
Juan Roldán 1940 - 2014
He was born in El Viso del Alcor, Seville, in 1940. He has recently died in Seville with 74 years old.
This painter studied in Seville at the School of Arts and Crafts. He worked in a huge warehouse during his first years, so his artistic career did not start early, according to his friend and painter Juan Valdés.
Some of his works can be found in important collections and in some companies such as Endesa, Telefónica, and also in other significant places: Palacios of Dueñas, Liria of the Casa de Alba, Buckingham Palace, and in some Spanish embassies around Europe (London and Strasbuorg (EU)), among others.
The Spanish Royal Family also possesses some artworks of this painter, as he has a deep friendship with the King Juan Carlos´ mother. He painted some fans and landscapes for her.
He specially had a weakness for Seville, so he painted multiples posters for its fairs and parties. He really identified himself with these works.
Juan Roldán confesses that "he was in doubt with Seville because this city gave him everything". Not only did he receive all the support of the Sevillian media during his career, but also he fondly remembers when he received important awards.
His last gift for Seville took place in 2013, as he exhibited his paintings in the Círculo Mercantil. As he recognized "I had some contracts with my gallery, so I could not dispose of my own artworks. Therefore, I warmly broke up these relationships. Since then, I personally sell all my works and this is my way of living." This is the reason why he could prepare an exhibition selecting his most wonderful and lovely landscapes.
He was awarded with some significant prizes as a painter: "Real Maestranza de Caballería" prize in 1993 and "Hijo Predilecto of El Viso del Alcor" title in 2001. He was born in this town of Seville and there is a street with his artistic name.
Regarding his landscapes, Magdalena Haurie, Dean of artistic galleries of Seville, claims that "he was in love with the southern sunlight and the Andalusian landscapes. It was appreciated in his paintings in which there were multiple olive trees and holm oaks..." Haurie exposes that he never betrayed himself."He has been true to this theme until his death. He evolved, of course, but without losing his loyalty."
When you get involved in the dreamed of reality looking at Juan Roldán paintings, you realize that need to escape from the actual reality of the daily life. There is no oppression, anxiety or authoritarian moral codes. Just the opposite, his works depict a melancholic and pleasant aesthetic. Therefore, he always tries to escape from the stridency and the burden of reality.
The silence is a very significant characteristic in his works. It evolves his immense spaces, his agreeable atmospheres, his beaches and dunes...This silence is only interrupted by the sound of the sea, the fire or the flutter of a pigeon. He cleverly merges his figures and the poetic spirit he possesses in his artworks.
Enrique Valdivieso.
Juan Roldán exposes his very personal interpretation of the widest horizons.
He conveys us a sentimental communication with his pleasant works through his visual language.
Manuel Lorente.
Juan Roldán, who is very careful with all the details, firstly thinks about his paintings in order to reflects his thoughts in the canvas later. His results are so gorgeous that he is not even able to reiterate it.
Rafael Muñoz.
As an excellent painter, Roldán cleverly plays with the wide spaces, blurs the backgrounds, detail the close-ups and with the use of all these characteristics he creates a cold poetic and shaken atmosphere.
Mario Antolín.
As if the slightly suggested form would want not to be; as if it would only leave its breath in the atmosphere. This form gets lost in a far horizon and Juan Roldán is caught by this gorgeous image.
M.A. García Viñolas.
Once again, the artwork of this Sevillian artist is presented as fresh, lyric and evocative. This painter tries to recover all the spaces that refuse the daily life. It is how Roldán goes beyond a mysterious threshold and causes an irresistible attraction.
Miguel Ángel Trenas