"GRAY HERONS." AT FAZUNCHAR FESTIVAL, PORTUGAL
About the slow life, LONG travels and teamwork.
FOZ DE ALGE, PORTUGAL. 2022
August, vacations, trips, movement...
On the 13rd of this month I arrived driving from Madrid, together with Isabel, to Figueiró dos Vinhos. A small special village of white houses and red roofs in the center and deep Portugal. Surrounded by old and few pine forests that have been giving way to the well-known blue-leaved eucalyptus trees that mark the landscape like brush strokes.
This time we were traveling to participate in the Fazunchar (To do in Portuguese) art festival, curated and managed by Mistaker Maker. “Onde a Arte faz a festa”.
We spent 10 days there, where the pause, the art, the people and the well-doing were the axes on which we moved. And good fish, by the way.
During the first two days we dedicated ourselves to getting to know the place, getting to know each other and enjoying the landscapes, culture and community that surrounds Figueiro dos Vinhos. Cold baths, landscapes, walks, food, music and meetings. All this forged the basis of what would later happen during the festival.
On the third day we started to work. My wall was located a few kilometers away, in a somewhat smaller village called Foz de Alge and next to the riverbed of two rivers that met. A place of passage, bathing, sun and vegetation. A very small town with well-kept orchards, some tractors, cats and lots of grapes. And a small bar.
A long wall, not very high, with good views and lots of sun
A theme: movement and teamwork.
After 5 days of painting, lots of sunscreen, sundowners and some Portuguese food, we were done.
The animal chosen for this work was the Gray Heron. A bird that travels thousands of kilometers each year, from south to north and from north to south, linking Africa and Europe.
We chose it since one of its many stops along the way is in Foz de Alge and its lands bathed by rivers. Here they rest, replenish their strength and continue with the journey, always in a group.
"Flying far is complicated and doing it alone is almost impossible.
Traveling without stopping, without stopping, makes no sense. Gray herons fly long distances, thousands of kilometers each year. From south to north and from north to south.¡
They stop in wet areas to rest, such as Foz de Alge, and start their journey again. Always in company, always with someone. Instinct helps us to be and to be, it pushes us. But there is always someone, something that stops us and places us. What gives us that pause and time, and then continue.”
“Fazunchar is a slow journey, a team journey."
Tremendously grateful for having participated in Fazunchar 2022. Special thanks to Lara, Duarte and Bea for making everything so well and so easy.
It was a pleasure to share these 10 days in Figueiro dos Vinhos with such great people.
Photographs by Miguel Oliveira
"YOU YES, YOU NO. THIS YES, THIS NOT." AT POPULARTE FESTIVAL. CORSICA, FRANCE
About why everything deserves a second chance.
CORSICA, FRANCE 2022.
A few weeks ago and after being invited by Fabien to participate in the Popularte, arte fora di cità, I landed for the first time in Corsica. A Mediterranean island whose letter of introduction was sea, sun and high and steep mountains all over it.
For my project I thought of recovering a previous artistic proposal that, unfortunately, I could not carry out. It was also prepared for a festival in France, and this was the full story:
”In 2021, despite all the crises we are experiencing, I took more than 20 planes, visited a few countries and many cities, met special people and was able to paint in places I never imagined. Passports, vaccinations, controls, bureaucracies… but they never stopped me.On one of these trips I landed in the south of France, in the Alps, to participate in a festival that was being held in a small town that I will not mention. Snow, mountains, sun, skiing, restaurants, shops and a resounding NO to refugees. I thought about working on this subject, too hot for his taste, and after presenting my idea they forbade me to make a portrait of a black man with a serious expression: “You won’t understand and you can get angry. Could you paint a portrait of a girl smiling? It was the response from the mayor, and finally they did not allow me to paint it. Months before, in this same place, they had CLOSED an aid center that provided food and rest for the refugees who crossed the Alps on foot and came from North Africa. Too much contrast for them.”
I thought it would be a good time to go back to something that was left halfway and that I had to get out. This time there were no doubts, no questions, no whys.
I think everything deserves a second chance. And everyone, too.
In addition, I had the opportunity to do a second mural in Lozzi. Perhaps this was the typical mural for which no one would cry out in heaven. Or maybe yes, it depends on the context, right?
After all, I can only thank Fabien for giving me this opportunity, Elodie for all her work and all the people who have made it possible.
Also very grateful to all the great artists with whom I shared those days in Corsica.
I hope to see you soon.
ROPEGUN x TAQUEN x LA PEDRIZA
“Nuestro pequeño homenaje a este lugar tan especial”
MADRID. 2022
Primero conocí sus camisetas, después su proyecto Ropegun Streetwear y después a él, a Juan.
A cualquier persona que se sienta atraída por la montaña, respete o conozca, le suena el nombre de LA PEDRIZA. Y si tiene la suerte de tenerla cerca seguro que ha podido disfrutar en ella paseando, corriendo, escalando sus formas graníticas o simplemente contemplándola, que no es poco. Forma parte del parque nacional de la Sierra de Guadarrama y es el espacio protegido más grande de la Comunidad de Madrid.
Necesitaba nuestro homenaje:
Ropegun es una marca de moda creada por amantes de las montañas, los espacios naturales y la defensa del medio ambiente. Una marca de moda local creada por Juan, quien diseña colecciones inspiradas en su relación con todos estos lugares y con quien desde el principio me sentí muy identificado.
Después de cruzarnos en el camino sabíamos que tarde o temprano trabajaríamos en algún proyecto juntos y hace unos meses nos pusimos manos a la obra. El resultado fruto de nuestra colaboración ha sido el diseño y lanzamiento de una edición limitada de camisetas de algodón orgánico con una ilustración de La Pedriza en la parte frontal y serigrafiadas a mano una por una en el estudio Hola Por Qué.
Además, aprovechamos el diseño para sumar otro producto a la colaboración y hacerla algo más especial: una taza de acero de las de toda la vida, fabricadas de forma artesanal por Retropot, en Cantabria.
Todo quedaba en casa y la excusa que teníamos para unir fuerzas era lo suficientemente grande como para dejarlo pasar, y menos mal.
Fotografías por Laura Enim.
Para los reportajes y toda la documentación del proceso hablamos con Laura, una fotógrafa que bien conoce la sierra de Madrid y los procesos artesanales, con quien había podido trabajar en otros proyectos y que ha exprimido el jugo a nuestra colaboración.
Tanto la camiseta como la taza podéis encontrarla en la tienda online de Ropegun o en su pequeña tienda física situada en la Calle Bravo Murillo 15, de Madrid, que os recomiendo mucho visitar.
Pintar en la calle o en el estudio me encanta, pero poder trabajar en estos proyectos y compartirlo con todas estas personas, me llena.
Encima tuvimos la suerte de hacer la presentación y lanzamiento en la tienda de Ropegun junto a muchas personas, darnos un abrumador baño de masas, celebrarlo con cervezas bien frías y llevarnos muy y muchos buenos recuerdos.
Tremendamente agradecidos por todo y con ganas de más!
ROPEGUN
LAURA ENIM
HOLA POR QUÉ
RETROPOT
TAQUEN
PRIMOR x TAQUEN
A PROJECT BY WANNA, INTERIOR DESIGN AND BRANDING STUDIO
MADRID, SPAIN. 2022
Thanks to the trust of WANNA I have once again had the opportunity to paint in Madrid.
This time it was about designing and painting four murals in the closures of the new Perfumerías Primor store, in Plaza de Callao, a very special and busy place in Madrid, Spain. The idea of the entire design project of the store is based on the concept of "skin" and my proposal was these four pieces, where pastel tones should be protagonists together with the representation of different parts of the naked human body.
It has been a pleasure to collaborate in this project contributing with my work. Special thanks to Esther for all the trust, who gave me freedom to work and create.
Also special thanks to Demut Art for the assistance and the good times.
**Due to store opening hours, it can only be viewed between 10 pm and 10 am
AMETLLER ORIGEN. HOSPITALET DE LLOBREGAT, BARCELONA.
“FEM CAMÍ / HACER CAMINO / MAKE YOUR WAY”
Or how to move forward without forgetting.
Some weeks ago I carried out this project in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, after winning the urban art contest promoted by Ametller Origen, in collaboration with the Fundación Contorno Urbano and Montana Colors to paint the exterior facade of their new store that has been inaugurated in this city.
Ametller Origen is a project focused on improving people's nutrition and health through the marketing and cultivation of local, natural and organically grown food products, which was born in Catalonia in 1830 and continues to be highly committed to these values, which I share and that isn one of the main reasons why I entered the contest that I was lucky enough to win.
The contest was focused on its #FemCam´í project, based on carrying out sustainable and healthy actions to improve our closest environment.
The main idea of this work was to represent a young woman, with her whole life ahead of her, a symbol of growth and the future that we imagine. Looking back so as not to forget where we came from and what our past is, to then continue on its path towards sustainable development close to nature, positive and optimistic, especially in the times we live in.
The process took just over a week of work and thanks to the invaluable help of Pako. During those days, in addition to the comments from the residents of the city, students from several nearby schools were often approaching, very interested in the project and to whom I am very grateful for their support and welcome. I hope you enjoyed the experience as I did.
Some photos and video of the process:
Video making off:
Special thanks to Esteban from Contorno Urbano, Pako and all the workers at the Ametller Origen store for the treatment received.
I hope I have lived up to it.
EL PROCESO, AT BAYONNE, FRANCE
Murmurs of wood pigeons at the Bayonne Tourist Office.
After my artistic residence in Saint Palais, France, and after spending a few days resting in Madrid, I returned to France, this time to Bayonne, to participate in the Points de Vue urban art festival, which was held between the 19th and the 23rd of October 2021. Festival organized and also curated by Alban Morton in collaboration with Space Junk Bayonne.
This project was special from the beginning. The building, designed by Gayet Roger Architectes, was already an art piece in itself and I wanted to approach it with as much respect as possible for its architecture. I sought to merge my work with the forms of the building, to bring movement and intervene in all its faces at the same time. The idea was that, standing at a farder distance, the vision of the Tourist Office would continue to be the same, but as you get closer, my work begins to appear.
At the same time, I planned to enjoy the journey, the process, and I needed to improvise.
This was its appearance before the intervention:
The idea and sketches:
Select the wood or wild pigeon as the main element for the mural as it is a bird native to the area and very important to the city of Bayonne. It is a bird that lives in large groups, travels through Africa and Europe every year during its migration process and settles in the south of France. For all these reasons I decided that it would be a good bird for this project.
The tourist office was the ideal place to talk again about the migratory movements of human beings. It is a meeting point, starting point and ending point for many trips. A dynamic building, a meeting place with multiple points of view. There are many people who, like me, visit the city every year.
After five days this was the final result of my intervention:
Pictures by: DAVID DUCHON-DORIS
I can finally say that I enjoyed it. It has been a complex project but one that I am proud of. I hope I have lived up to the work of the architects and the building itself and it can be enjoyed by all the visitors and tourist that travel to Bayonne in the future.
It has been a pleasure to be part of this festival and have enjoyed this great city.
Thanks to Alban for trusting my work and to all the artists and friends with whom I shared those days, hope to see all of you soon somewhere.