ACTIVITY
His activity is based on the creation, conservation and restoration of different kinds of traditional finishes. Xavier has been capable – thanks to his experience of years in the craft – of updating the artisanal techniques and ways of working with the new technologies and… materials available. His ultimate aim is always that the work he carries out is technically well-solved and aesthetically adequate for the purpose it was created for.
He masters techniques such as: gilding and polychromy on gold, scratching, a punta de pincel carving, bas-relief, applied brocade, water gilding, gold size gilding, a punta de pincel gilding, burnishing, chiselling, estofado esgrafiado, estofado a punta de pincel, lacquering and corlado (application of a kind of yellow varnish), bronzing and burnished stuccoing.
TRAINING
His professional career starts in the year 1991, inheriting the practice, experience and know-how of traditional local workshops, such as the workshop of “Los Porta” in Oliva (Valencia), along with the master Ramón Porta Llorca. He also carried out academic studies in the fields of… art, conservation and restoration, obtaining an MA in Fine Arts by the Universitat Politècnica of Valencia.
TEACHING
During the past 20 years of his professional career, he has trained a vast number of apprentices in the workshop.
He has also delivered the following courses:
Restoration of gildings in the Postgraduate Degree of the National School of Plastic Arts at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma, in… Mexico.
Restoration of gildings in the course titled: “Altarpieces: Techniques, materials and procedures”, part of the Spanish group of the IIC in collaboration with the University of Valencia.
SELECTED WORK
His works are mainly based on built heritage, mentioning among others the following interventions:
Restoration of the gildings of the Chapel of La Comunión de San Nicolás, in Valencia.
Decoration of the altarpiece of San Joaquin within the Parish Church of the Nacimiento de la Virgen de… Benilloba.
Restoration of the altarpiece of the Immaculate within the Parish Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, in Sedaví.
Decoration of the altarpiece of the Virgin of El Rosario within the Parish Church of La Asunción, in Torrente.
Restoration of the organ case of the Parish Church of San Juan Bautista de Monóvar.
Decoration of the altarpiece of the Corazón de Jesús of the Parish Church of San Jaime de Algemesí.
Restoration of the gildings of the Basilica of the Virgin, in Valencia.
Decoration of the main altarpiece of the Church of San Pedro Apostol, in Buñol.
Restoration of the gildings of the Church of Santa María, in Alicante.
Decoration of the main altarpiece of the Parish Church of the Santa Cruz, in Pedreguer.
