From 8 to 13 September 2025, Ordovas presents a solo exhibition by José Jun Martínez, winner of the 2024 Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Award. Perennial Paroxysm is centred around a group of five new paintings by the London-based Puerto Rican artist whose practice spans a decade of immersive contemplation in natural environments. The works on view range from a large diptych painted with oil on canvas and measuring 200cm x 160cm to a complementary group of small-scale studies on paper.
The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust was established in 2006 after the death of Valerie Beston (1922-2005) who was renowned for supporting and nurturing the careers of many of the leading artists working in London throughout her extraordinary fifty-year career, including Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. The charity was established to support artists at the beginning of their careers; it has since collaborated with the Royal College of Art to award an annual prize to a postgraduate student selected from its degree show. The prize comprises a studio for a year at SPACE, a financial contribution towards materials, tutorial support generously provided by the RCA, and a solo exhibition at the end of the year, held since 2020 at Ordovas.
