Cristina del Prado

Plastic Artist | Sevilla 1974

I was born in 1974 in Seville, the result of the passionate love of my parents, two young people in their early twenties, and above all of the Love of God. He ignited in them that flame that gave birth to four children and a multitude of friends. My mother was with me here for only eight years but her beauty, physical and spiritual, was so great that she taught me without words the meaning of life: Good is so Beautiful that it deserves to be served, without the need to expect anything in return, even if it costs an effort, even if we have to go through pain, which in this life is inevitable. Our happiness is not in avoiding that pain, but in having a full meaning for our life, something greater than ourselves that deserves to give itself completely. In my parents I saw that the most beautiful thing that exists and the only thing that lasts Forever is Love.

Since my mother went to Heaven, my father was father and mother to us: he gave himself completely and without losing his character as a man for whom a few almonds and sea water solved everything, he tried to give us the tenderness and affection that we needed. He was a lover of the sea and in it, just one hour from Seville, we found refuge and home. I will always remember the first night we four children slept next to him on the floor, we still had not beds, listening to the waves just a few meters away. The sea spoke to our hearts: that horizon without limits and always changing, reverberating with light, took us to the Infinite and the Eternal. Dad said that he was more active and he saw in me a contemplation that he did not have. Dad was wonderful, not because he had no flaws, but because he loved us madly.

When he already had us raised (we were already teenagers, the older ones) and with his homework already done, my father met his second love and wanted to complicate his life again: “He had received a lot and wanted to give it,” he explained to us before getting married. And God, who rewards generosity, gave him three treasures: his three young children. Second of seven siblings, children filled my childhood in a heart where the passion for them was always innate and very strong: there is nothing more beautiful and pure than a child! Everything beautiful attracted me: music, dance, shapes, colors… God had created a very beautiful world! At eighteen I started architecture in Milan hoping to find the symbiosis between the beautiful and the practical, to have a job useful to society, where I would link my intellectual capacities with the aesthetic ones. But when I returned to Seville in my fourth year of studies, my studies were not validated and since I had another five years ahead of me to obtain a degree, in a very difficult decision, I decided to start Fine Arts. My father warned me about how hard it could be to earn a living, but I replied that it was necessary for there to be people dedicated to what “is useless”, but which makes the world more beautiful and gladdens the hearts of men. My father supported me in this argument, although later, over the years, I have been able to experience how “right he was, all the sufferings he wanted to save me! But my father, who knew me like no one else, knew that the most genuine thing in me was and is that search for Beauty. With a sensitivity that makes me feel the pain deeply, but also recognize the beautiful, to go within its reach: that is the task of my life.

In the following years I learned a lot, especially from the people that God put in my path. In the university choir I could enjoy the music, that physical feeling in the vibration of the air and of one’s own body, such wonderful and sublime melodies! And in in addition, I made wonderful friends who made me know and appreciate other cultures. France through Isabelle Schmitz, a flagship woman like few others, and Germany where I went to live for a boyfriend. Today he is happily married to someone else but we still have a deep appreciation, because love when it’s good, lasts forever.

The 2008 crisis brought me back to Germany, it was a very hard period. My father was sick and when he died I decided to return to Seville because my roots are here: the sun, the sea, the joy of dancing, my guitar always with me, even though I hardly know how to play it! In Heaven I will finally learn and see the full picture of my life, where the contrasting blurs and shadows covered by Love will take shape! And God will be in it together with my parents, to give me that hug that I have been longing for since I was born and that will unite us forever!

AWARDS
2006. Prix de l´Association des Palmes Academiques du Lot. Salon d´art St. Laurent Lolmie. Francia.
2005. Áccesit en el XVII Certamen de Pintura Gustavo Bacarisas. Sevilla.
2004. Primer Premio en la modalidad de Pintura del VII Certamen Nacional de Jóvenes Creadores. Socuéllanos. Ciudad Real.
2003. Primer Premio del I Certamen de Pintura Real e Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Sevilla. Tercer Premio del XV Certamen de Pintura Gustavo Bacarisas. Sevilla. Tercer Premio en el II Premio de Pintura La Mujer en el Arte. Rota. Cádiz.

EXHIBITIONS
2020. El Mar está Dentro. European Commission, Sevilla.
2018. Agua, Tierra y Aire II. Galería La Revuelta. Sevilla.
2017. Retazos de Vida II. Sevilla.
2011. Agua, Tierra y Aire I. Excmo. Ateneo de Sevilla. Retazos de Vida I. Colegio de Médicos de Sevilla. IX Certamen de Pintura Real e Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de Sevilla.
2010.Visiones. Galería de Arte Libertad Couso. Marbella. Málaga.
2009. XXI Certamen de Artes Plásticas Miguel Sandoval. Lora del Río. Sevilla.
2008. Zwischen Warm und Kalt II. Hofheim am Taunus. Alemania.
2007. Tierras Hermanas. Consulado General de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Frankfurt. Alemania.
2006. Zwischen Warm und Kalt I. Bad Wurzach. Alemania. Erlebnis I. Darmstadt. Alemania.
2005. XXIV Certamen de Pintura Villa de Montellano. Sevilla. IV Premio de Pintura La Mujer en el Arte. Rota. Cádiz. Paysages Interieurs I. Hotel Bourbon-Condé. París. Hálito I. Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos. Cáceres. Hálito II. Badajoz. Impresiones I. Almería.
2004. Alto contraste. Galería Garduño. Sevilla. V Premio de Pintura FORUM Arte Sevilla. I Certamen de Pintura Concello de Monforte de Lemos. Coruña. XXIII Certamen de Pintura Villa de Montellano. Sevilla. XII Concurso Ciudad de Tudela. Navarra. IV Premio de Pintura La Mujer en el Arte. Rota. Cádiz. II Bienal de Pintura Associació d’Amics de Cristòfor Aguado. Picassent. Valencia. Exposición colectiva. Expo-Arte. Centro Internacional de Arte. Madrid.
2003. I Certamen de Fotografía Real e Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos de la provincia de Sevilla. XXXI Concurso Nacional de Grabado. Alcalá de Guadaira. Sevilla. XXXI Concurso Nacional de Pintura. Alcalá de Guadaira. Sevilla. IV Premio de Pintura FORUM Arte Sevilla. IX Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas Universidad de Sevilla. II Concurso de Pintura al Aire Libre Santiponce de Arte. Sevilla. Pintores en Andalucía. Fundación de Cultura Andaluza. Sevilla. LII Exposición de Otoño de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría. Sevilla.
2002. XXX Concurso Nacional de Grabado. Alcalá de Guadaira. Sevilla. XXX Concurso Nacional de Pintura. Alcalá de Guadaira. Sevilla. III Premio de Pintura FORUM Arte Sevilla. VIII Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas Universidad de Sevilla. XXIII Certamen Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo Ciudad de Utrera. Sevilla. Certamen Nacional de Bellas Artes
2002. Excmo. Ateneo de Sevilla.
2001. La Cultura en la Universidad. Rectorado de la Universidad de Sevilla.