Ninots 5a categoria, SJ-11

Moving up a category from yesterday, here's a look at the candidates for the Ninot Indultat from the 5th category Hogueras:

a couple of group shots:

Ninots Hogueras 5a Categoría

Ninots Hogueras 5a Categoría

I'm not an expert on this, but in the above picture I'd be willing to bet that the lady on the right (with the two babies) was done by a Valencian artist, while the Bellea next to her (with the old man) was done by an artist from Alicante. You can tell the difference between the styles I mentioned last year (Valencia = curvier, more exaggerated features; Alicante = more geometric lines), but also I overheard a lady telling the guy she was with that the ninots by artists from Valencia tend to be shiny while the ones from Alicante not so much.

As a group these ninots were -like the 6th category- a bit underwhelming, but a few of them did stand out for me:

Ninot Hoguera Pla del Bon Repós. Artista: Juan Miguel Gómez Fonseca

The INEM is the national job institute in Spain. Basically the people in charge of helping the unemployed find new jobs etc... With the way unemployment has been during the present crisis I thought this was an apt metaphor for the intstitution... ;o)

Then there's the Alicantina mermaid. Dressed as a Bellea (which you can tell from the white lace headgear), on some kind of seahorse (there are a lot of those this year!), surrounded by fishies, and on a base representative of the Paseo de la Explanada (one of Alicante's emblematic sites):

Ninot Hoguera La Marina. Artista: Juan Alberto Navarro Guijarro

But the one that really caught my attention was this:

Ninot Hoguera Passeig de Gómiz. Artista: Vicente Martinez Aparici

Yikes! Dead Nature. Quite a sad statement... I'm definitely going to have to check out the full Hoguera. It's located right on the downtown beach, the Playa del Postiguet, so it will be easy to find...

The ninots infantils were a lot more fun, as I'm sure you'll agree from this selection:

Ninot H.Infantil Campoamor. Artista: Carlos Sampedro Moreno

Ninot H.Infantil Plaza Lo Morant. Artista: Alejandro Hurtado

Ninot H.Infantil Plaza de Argel. Artista: Alejandro Cano Hernández

That last one is a lot of fun! A the little signs and sayings have to with being late, behind schedule... as if they're worried they won't have their Hoguera up on time! ;o)

But in this section my favourite were definitely these three:

Ninot H.Infantil Juan XXIII. Artista: Alejandro Cano Hernández

Ninot H.Infantil Escritor Dámaso Alonso. Artista: Juan Carlos Asensi Carrasco

Ninot H.Infantil Carrer Sant Vicent. Artista Juan Carlos Asensi Carrasco

A little nazareno from the Holy Week processions, a baby dragon and a cute little dolphin! :o)

Tomorrow: 4a categoría!