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Daniel Fermor-Smith is an English artist who's been living in Granada for twenty years, having spent two years in Malaga beforehand. He currently has an exhibition of his prints at the Hotel Aurea Catedral in Granada city which runs until May 13.
Daniel explains that the Hotusa Group, to which the hotel belongs, has an initiative called 'Exposiciones Eurostars' to support artists by giving them the opportunity to exhibit in some of their hotels.
The opening took place on Thursday 13 March and Daniel says that the feedback was "very positive and I believe sincere". He went on to say, "It gives me great pleasure to be able to share this work with people. I have lived in a bit of an artistic bubble for some years now and this has been my first real interaction with a broader public for quite some time. I'm very grateful to Eurostars hotels for embracing the prospect of an exhibition of mine so enthusiastically."
Daniel, 53, explains that his interest in art and painting "long predates 2003" when he moved to Spain. He was living in Devon working as a local newspaper reporter and painting at the weekends. But he says he "felt increasingly compelled to paint".
Having already lived in Spain – Madrid - for a year and a half after university in the mid-nineties where he taught English, he knew he could rely on that to "pay the bills" while allowing him to paint in his spare time.
"Malaga, Picasso's hometown, soon loomed large in my imagination and seemed to tick all the boxes," Daniel explains, saying that he didn't want to move to a very large city but needed somewhere with good connection to the UK. "And so in the summer of 2003 I packed up my little car and headed south through France and Spain," he recalls.
He once received some wise advice from a Portuguese artist, Antonio Almeida: "You have started as a good artist, don't finish as a bad one." With these words in mind, Daniel says that some of his best work comes from his time in Malaga where he explored issues like the Spanish Civil War, ethnic persecution and genocide and orchestrated violence; in pictures such as The Game of Chess, Going Away, The Road to Almeria and Wailing Women.
Although he says that he has also produced "lighter observational works", like Lunchtime and The Cobbler at Work. "I would say the social commentary in particular marked a crucial step forward for me both as an artist and also in a very personal sense, as I found I had a voice by way of artistic expression," Daniel reflects.
For "professional and personal reasons", Daniel decided to move to Granada in 2005, where he started to paint in oil as opposed to acrylic, which he had done previously. He had his first exhibition, Sultanas, Granadinas, Roxanas y Diosas at the city's Cidi Hiaya gallery.
Daniel then travelled to Rajasthan in India in autumn 2006 which led to a series of work inspired by "the vibrant colours; the simple acts of existence; the light; the interaction of man and animal; and the interaction of the people with water". Some of these works featured in exhibitions in England and one in Granada.
Daniel returned to Granada after the trip where he has carried on working for the following 19 years and admits that he was in "a bubble". However, at the end of 2023 he took part in a printing workshop when he says "a new fuse ignited".
"It meant a new opportunity to visit old drawings and themes and give them new life," the artist explains. Then in May 2024 he took part in an art fair in Marbella: "It was great to interact with the public and other artists."
The exhibition runs until May 13 at the Hotel Aurea Catedral, Calle Carcel Baja, Granada (next to the cathedral). The opening times are 9am to 1pm and 5 to 8.30pm. www.dfspaintings.com
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