After climbing the old and wide wooden steps of a century-old house located on Cochane Street in Barrio Puerto, we find La Escala Galería, a space surrounded by art and culture. Its imposing and high walls are adorned with more than 600 works by different artists from Buenos Aires, which together with the large windows overlooking the street, bring naturalness to the space, creating a cozy and magical artistic atmosphere.
Upon our arrival we are welcomed by Jaime Blaset, Director of La Escala Galería, who takes us on a tour of the eight rooms and tells us about the beginnings, challenges and objectives of the space.
Jaime, what is La Escala Galería and how did it come about?
"La Escala, arises from the need to create a platform for exhibition, dissemination and sale of the works of emerging artists from Buenos Aires because there was no space for them. I was also looking for a space to show my paintings and those of other artists, to expose students, people who are coming out of Fine Arts and advanced, young authors."
Why the name La Escala Gallery?
"The name came from a gallery we had in the Concepción hill in Galvez passages, I got a place that had no walls, they were only beams, but had a wooden spiral staircase and there came the name of the Escala Gallery and there we were a year and a half and then down to the center, the Barrio Puerto and that's been 4 and a half years."
Blaset, a painter and sculptor by profession, arrived in Valparaíso 16 years ago because his dream was to live in the port city "I always wanted to come to the port to paint and I always said that when I retired I would come to live in Valparaíso, one day I arrived with my paintings and nothing else".
Have you always been dedicated to art?
"In Santiago I had another type of business but it was always mixed with art, I had a furniture store in Las Condes but the work was naturally transformed into a gallery, I accepted work from other furniture makers but always with a creative line and after 6 years I began to design furniture to apply stone, iron, glass, then we took out a line of very artistic furniture".
What characteristics must artists have to exhibit their work?
"There is no criterion for selecting the work, only that they have the desire to do a good job and hopefully a line of production formed, but the artists arrive very diversified and then take a personal and own language, I only require five works per author, I have seen the birth of artists here who come with a very basic technique and then over the years is defining the pictorial line I have very good artists, who are promises and I follow up their work, I encourage them to work."
What does painting mean to you?
"I need to paint and be creating, I have studies in the experimental art school, then I have a very personal language in what is painting, which is recognized and is something that is achieved with time, the trade and perseverance."
The gallery scale is a space open to the community, because as its logo points out - "Art within everyone's reach" - it is a place that accepts all types of intervention, such as musical events, workshops and classes.
Finally Jaime, why should porteños and tourists visit La Escala Galería?
"The impression that people have when they enter here, it is as if the air is coming out, it is a very nice space where there are works of 47 artists, there are many promises, there is a lot of quality in the works, culture is never in excess in a spiritual food and when you enter here you leave with a full heart."
If you wish to visit the gallery, it is open from Monday to Saturday from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. You can also visit it through its website, where you will find the technical details of each painting.
Contact
- Location: Cochane #553, Barrio Puerto, Valparaíso
- Phone: +569 98703603
- Website: https://www.laescalagaleria.com/