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The artistic legacy of Balbino de la Cerra, his drawings and designs of embroidery, transcends beyond the scope of the Cofradía California and becomes a benchmark for Easter in Cartagena and other nearby locations.

Through a series of strokes full of passion, Balbino creates a fantastic universe where lilies, leaves, passion flowers, palms, dragons and various flowers coexist and merge into a series of elegant designs that decorate many of the mantles, shrouds and other fabrics Embroideries that are part of the Cartagena processions.

'Trazos de Pasión' is an anthological exhibition of Balbino that opens this Friday, December 15 at 8:00 pm and can be visited from that moment until January 21, 2018 on the first floor of Palacio Molina.

The event will be attended by the councilor of Archaeological Heritage, Ricardo Segado, and the Greater Californio Brother, Juan Carlos de la Cerra.

The floral ornaments of the modernist Cartagena facades, the decorations of the tiles of the Casino of the city, the embroidery made in San Miguel asylum and the cinema, as he himself counted, become the source of inspiration for his designs, giving place to some compositions articulated around an axial axis that confers them a harmonious character and a perfect symmetry, perceptible not only in monumental works, like the mantle of the Virgin of the First Pain, but also in the smallest and simplest ones.

His drawings always flee from straight lines and geometric motifs, while plant elements, flowers and fantastic beings, such as passion roses and dragons, take center stage in his sketches.

Balbino endows his work with a singular imprint by creating drawings of great plasticity, thanks to the use of sinuous curves and large floral compositions, with which he is able to create a peculiar aesthetic that, in the hands of artisans such as Consuelo Escámez, Anita Vivancos , Antonia Sánchez and his own wife, Salvadora Hódar, among others, becomes one of the referents of the Cartagena processions of the 20th century.

The delegate councilor of Culture, David Martinez, and Brother Californio, Juan Carlos de la Cerra, visited this Friday morning the exhibition in a press pass where they were able to admire the quality of the designs included in the exhibition.

"This exhibition represents all those people who have made our Easter possible," said the mayor, who highlighted the "enthusiasm", "work", "art" and "creativity" of Balbino, which is reflected in the "great jewels" that are part of the sample and that have been ceded for the exhibition.

Martinez stressed that here you can enjoy each of the details of these works of art from very close.

For Juan Carlos de la Cerra, it is "a sample that for the processionist and the Cartagena is worthy to see carefully."

Brother Californio has highlighted that the work of Balbino has transcended the Cofradía California, since there are works of his in Murcia, Totana, Los Ramos, Torrevieja, where he was a native, and even in the Netherlands, among other places.

BALBINO

Balbino de la Cerra Barceló (Torrevieja 1921 - Cartagena 2003), Balbino for Cartagena processionists, is undoubtedly the most charismatic californio of the second half of S. XX.

Just after the Civil War, still very young, he became fully involved in the life of the Brotherhood, remaining active until his death.

Its incorporation coincides with some very difficult moments for the Brotherhood due to the destruction of most of the patrimony in the beginning of the fight;

but, being almost everything to do, it is also a time of great challenges and challenges that the young Balbino will know how to take advantage of.

At his death, he held the position of principal steward.

As a member of the Artistic Commission and conciliar, first, and from the post of General Guardalmacén, from 1957, Balbino developed a huge work cofrade and a unique ability of improvisation that allowed him to solve, with few means and large doses of imagination, the many situations experienced in the hard post-war years.

Some experiences that will be the origin of a rich anecdote that Balbino never tired of telling or reliving at every moment and that will end up being known affectionately among the cofrades of Cartagena as 'the things of Balbino'.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena