WITH RESPECT AND ADMIRATION Javier Carles
In this well-deserved tribute the city of Valencia is paying to Miguel Agrait Colomer, we should, without the shadow of a doubt, also add the name of his wife, Amparo Zaragozá. The two are critical lynchpins in an art world which would otherwise be impossible to understand, at least for me. Their solid commitment with a certain line, with artists and their respective movements is absolutely crucial. He knew how to stay at the forefront of changing times in a country that was always in his heart. He was able to foresee the names that would later become common currency in contemporary art, and the creation of art museums that would go on to house seminal exhibitions. Don Miguel, as I always called him, possessed the clear-sightedness of the chosen few. He backed the collectives Equipo Crónica and Equipo Realidad and he pre-empted other art dealers and gallerists in supporting artists of the international stature of Tàpies, Rafael Canogar, Miró, Donald Judd and later of Ximo Lizana. He was awarded the Médaille de la Ville by the city of Paris as well as other prizes including the Alfonso Roig or the José Mateu awards. Alongside Juana Mordó and a select few other gallery owners, he was instrumental in the foundation of what would later
Rafael Canogar, exposición 1988
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become ARCO. Galería Punto in Valencia took part, and indeed still takes part, in international fairs including Basel, FIAC, Cologne, Miami, Toronto, Art Madrid and so on and so forth. Since 1972, art critics, writers, historians and scribes like myself of pages and pages about the art world have always felt the duty to stop by whenever spotting the sign for an art gallery with the name Punto, wherever it might be, in art fairs here in Spain or further afield. In this time for pause and reflection in front of the computer and the blank page, my mind conjures up an image of him in his Austrian jacket at his booth at ARCO, talking to someone or other, praising the qualities of that veteran artist or of this promising young talent who is starting his career working with new technologies. He left behind three children. One of them, bearing the same name, was taken by fate last year, almost without a chance to say good-bye, at an age when he still had a lot to say in the art world. I dedicated a radio programme to him because he deserved that and much more. I now use My Way, one of his favourite songs, as the background for my programme. Two fighters still remain on the battleground, Nacho and Amparo, the latter rescued for the cause of the gallery and playing a critical role under the guidance of her brother, Nacho Agrait. Looming behind them is the shadow and the views of Doña Amparo, the matriarch of the clan, Don Miguel's wife, who always knew how to be the best of consultants for an incomparable gallery.
Salvador Soria, exposición 1988