Heaven on Earth: ten artists, ten wines
Some encounters look unlikely until you see them side by side. For three days in May 2025, in the rooms of the Casino de Agricultura in Valencia, art and wine sat at the same table. Heaven on Earth (El cielo en la tierra) was born from the meeting of two worlds that seem different at first glance and share a common root: passion, craft and a deep bond with the land. The wines were among the finest of the Valencian region, chosen with the expert palate of the oenologists of PROAVA and through long, intimate conversations with the winemakers themselves. The works came from contemporary artists of the same territory.
Each wine was tasted and understood through its colour, its aroma and its character, but also through the story around it: the soil that feeds it, the hands that make it, the knowledge that turns it into something unique. From there we drew connections, subtle and at the same time powerful, with works that vibrate on the same frequency, the frequency of care, of craft, of the search for something transcendent through the senses. It was never a sum of things. It was an invitation to open every sense at once, a pairing that lifts the act of looking and the act of tasting beyond pleasure, towards the sublime that human work reaches when it is done with devotion, talent and love. It reminded us that the highest things can be found in what is closest.
These were the ten pairings.
Miquel Navarro, Tumbadito, 2023 · Impromptu Rosé, Bodegas Hispano Suizas (Pablo Ossorio, D.O. Utiel-Requena)
Two icons of our land, each the fruit of an unquestionable career: meticulous, polished work built on clear ideas, conceptual depth and subtlety. Essential.
Agustín Serisuelo, Paisaje Girado, 2023 · La mujer caballo azul, Fil.loxera & Cia (Pilar Esteve, D.O. Valencia)
Serisuelo rescues fallen trunks; Pilar Esteve and her partners rescue old, forgotten vines. You can see the wood and smell it, but what moves you is the life they give it back.
Horacio Silva, Jardín Mojado, 2019 · Les Danses Blanc, Celler del Roure (Pablo Calatayud, D.O. Valencia)
Both drink from a deep knowledge of their craft and reach the same level of nuance: elegant, sinuous, made for long shared moments.
Silvia Lerin, Explosión en rojo · Light My Fire, Wines n’ Roses (Antonio Arráez, D.O. Valencia)
Passion in every plane and every sip: dynamic, intense, strong. Indifference is not allowed.
Nuria Rodríguez, Herbario de Emily Dickinson II, 2023 · La Forcallà de Antonia, Rafael Cambra (D.O. Valencia)
Reinventing the classics, revisiting iconography, rescuing the forcallat grape: two masters of our land who bring back from history what makes us who we are.
Carolina Valls, Shibuy 8, 2023 · Ca la Gata, Bodega Ca la Gata (Raúl Navarro, D.O. Utiel-Requena)
Lime and grass, apple greens, a citrus touch, even apricot: it is in both. Organic lines like ploughed fields, playful over a dark ground. A breath of fresh air.
Rosa Torres, Cielo y Tierra, 1976 · Valle de Xaló, Bodega Xaló (Sergio Balaguer, D.O. Alicante)
Making the complicated look simple, condensing a lifetime of wisdom into one work. A sweet sip while a pattern in motion carries you to a blurred horizon. Heaven on earth.
Carlos Sebastiá, TSPA8910 – Pieza 2, 2022 · Roques Negres, El Mollet (Juan Carlos Pavía and Antonio Albiñana)
Contemporary and passionate, eyes on memory but crossing it with the wish to surprise. Both from Castellón, both ready to break myths. Winning horses.
Cristina Gamón, Naturalezas limítrofes, 2023 · Tesoro de Villena, Las Virtudes (Sonia Llorente, D.O. Alicante)
Bound to the sea and to long journeys: blues stained with red wine, purples like red fruit, sweet velvet. On the very edge of reason and emotion. Absolute harmony.
Samuel Nieto, Turbulencia Serena, 2023 · Adriano Cava Ecológico, Viñedos y Bodega Haya (Eloy Haya, D.O. Cava)
The colour, the elegance and the complexity of this cava mirror Nieto’s painting, in form and in feeling. A true feast of the senses.
Curated by Samuel Casavella, with Lluís Romero, president of PROAVA. Casino de Agricultura, Valencia, 16–18 May 2025. Images: the exhibition catalogue.
Wherever you are, if a work has caught your eye, or you would like my view on a piece you own or are thinking about, write to me. I will be glad to look at it with you.