| Born in Barcelona, August 7, 1935, artist Poch Romeu began painting at the age of eleven. In 1947, he enrolled in the Escola d'Arts I Oficis, where he completed the four "guixos" courses in two years. The next year, Poch went on to the Central to attend two courses of life drawing class under professor Garcia Sans. At age 17, Poch enrolled in the Institut del Teatre to study set design where he explored the concept of perspective. There, he was taught by Andreu Vallvé, a student of Mestres Cabanes, Director of the Institute. Once finished with these courses, Romeu attended the "natural" classes of the Cercle Artistic de Ant Lluc. At the same time, he continued taking painting classes during the next 2-3 years from Ibiza painter Ferrer Guasch, a man of great teaching capacity. Poch learned much from Guasch's lessons and gained an artistic outlook that would be useful in the rest of his career. In 1949, Poch Romeu began working professionally. At the age of fourteen he began as a drafting apprentice at the Litograíia Rosés. He had also the luck to cross paths with a very technically qualified man, Joan Tobella Serra, who rigorously prepared him for the drawing discipline, then called "publicitario". In this way, Poch Romeu learned his craft from the bottom up. He began developing all the drawing techniques that applied to the graphic arts. He learned to draw on lithograph plates, make monotypes, color selections, airbrush, etc. Subsequently, he worked in depth on the technique of serigraphy, in which he achieved work of an extraordinary quality. He also acquired a great deal of knowledge in the field of photomechanical reproduction. After two years at Litograíia Rosé, Poch moved on to work at the Studio of his mentor, Joan Tobella, for two more years. At age 18, he established himself as a graphic artist in his own right. In 1959 Poch acted as artistic director of a successful graphic design firm. During this time Poch, along with his creative team, received various awards. Among perhaps the most notable of these awards is the First International Prize Euirokete de Sarrió. Following this intense professional path, Poch Romeu began in 1975 to dedicate himself completely to his painting. It was during this period in which the artist undertook a very deep analysis of his career and began to develop the theme of Menorca in his work. The island has been his place of residence off and on since 1964 and where he continues to do the majority of his work, which is based above all else on the landscape and architecture of the island. Poch Romeu has been considered an integral artist who brings to life impressionistic and realistic memories through his art. His drawing ability reaches the peak of the great and gifted artists of our times. His compositions are exact and perfect for the study and skillful solution of some of the more puzzling compositional problems. The measured technique, the application of luminous paint, the sure brushstroke and meticulous detail; Poch Romeu knows how to listen to the silence of the countryside, and especially that of the Island of Menorca, where he interprets the mystery of the light with a sensitivity and a palpable quality from the very first moment. |
