Category: page_outdoor

The Barrios Project

I have always been fascinated by auto-construction. From the gate at the end of a garden to a brick house found on the slope of a hill in Brazil. This type of architecture is immediate, organic, it expands in an almost natural way. This urban fabric’s apparent chaos is often more human than one found in a city where the construction follows standard urban planning. Aesthetically speaking, worn out textures and the discovery of a variety of materials (bricks, cement blocks, metal panels, wooden slabs…) have always attracted me as an artistic surface.

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The Barrios project began in April of 2006 when, invited by some friends, Nuria Mora and I painted in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. After exchanging ideas with the residents, I was very pleased to see that they were so receptive to what I was painting. They really appreciated the colors and the composition. This positive reaction led me to reflect on Contemporary Art and specifically its access to the public. It was obvious that, unfortunetly, the residents of the favela didn’t often visit museums or art galleries. Even though the appreciation of a work of art is universal, access to art itself is not. Since then, it has become a special mission for me to bring contemporary art to places where there is none. When discussing this with my friend Nazza, a fellow artist, he said, “what is the point of painting in the street in the center of Buenos Aires where people have money and can buy art and pay to enter museums, I only paint on the outskirts of the city.” He is completely right… Why give art for free to the people who need it the least? Where people really need art is in the Barrios!

This is not about outside eyes prying, or looking into a foreign world. My idea is to create a dialogue with the residents and enrich their daily lives by providing them with a humble gift. Sharing with them what I know and receiving what they can teach me. With Barrios, the human experience is always more rewarding for me than the artistic experience.

Barrios is an open project in constant development, more interventions and publications will come in the future. Of course, any idea or proposal is welcome as I am always looking to find new opportunities to make art more democratic.

Below you will find photographic galleries of six projects that I have developed within the framework of Barrios up until now. The photos were taken by project organizers, friends, neighbors and a few are my own.

Gardiena Azul

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 04/2006
In collaboration with Nuria Mora
More details: www.eltono.com/projects/gardenia-azul

Puerto Lumbreras

Murcia, Spain, 08/2006
Two week artistic residence within the neighborhood
In collaboration with Emece and Puerto Lumbreras City Council
A book about the project has been edited by the city council:
www.eltono.com/boutique/puerta-lumbreras-book
More details: www.eltono.com/projects/puerta-lumbreras

Huasteca, Santa Catarina and Espinazo

Nuevo León, Mexico, 11/2007
Paintings made with the help of Nrmal, Maf and Screw

Puerto Vallarta

Jalisco, Mexico, 10/2008
Ten day artistic residence
In collaboration with Paco Rosas and Libelulart
More details: www.eltono.com/projects/puerto-vallarta

Tampiquito

Monterrey, Mexico, 04/2009
Two-month artistic residence within the neighborhood
In collaboration with Nrmal and El Narval
More details: www.eltono.com/projects/residencia-tampiquito

Villa Urquiza and La Matanza

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12/2007 and 04/2010
Paintings made with the help of Nazza Stencil

We were returning to my friend Nazza’s home after painting, when we ran into the neighbor´s children playing football against a wall in front of the house. I paint lines, we had white paint and we were walking through a neighborhood in Argentina… It was pretty obvious that I would end up painting a goal on the wall! This is probably the most interactive piece I have ever painted.

Caochangdi – 草场地

Caochangdi, Beijing, China, 06/2012
1/1 Project with C-Space gallery
More details here: www.eltono.com/en/projects/1-1-caochangdi

Caballo Caballo Tigre Tigre – 马马虎虎

Sanlitun North Street 81, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
May 2012
Organized by Migas with the support of the Instituto Cervantes de Pekín and Nali Patio

The third Equipo Plastico’s exhibition was held in Beijing. As usual now, we stayed for a month residency, walking, visiting and observing the city. We created artworks inspired in our daily experiences. Unlike the previous two exhibitions, in Peru and Mexico, in China we faced a cultural and linguistic barrier much bigger; but that barrier did nothing but turn the project into a more intense and enriching experience.

The complete documentation about the project is published on the official Equipo Plástico website: www.equipoplastico.com/projects/caballo-caballo-tigre-tigre/caballo-caballo-tigre-tigre-en

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Mała 4

Praga neighborhood, Warsaw, Poland
April 2012

Project curated by Vlepvnet Foundation

During April 2012, I worked on a social project with kids from the Praga neighborhood in Warsaw. Because of their social environment and other factors, they don’t have an easy life and spend most of their time hanging out in the street. The Vlepvnet Foundation and the GPAS association organized the project, This Way to give them an opportunity to collaborate with contemporary artists and create a mural in their neighborhood. Our mural was painted on Mała street.

Using their help and input, we created an “abstract alphabet” using simple geometric shapes. Then, combining stencils, we painted the words that they chose on the wall. The first two days, we organized a workshop to define the letters of our alphabet and to cut the stencils. During the next 5 days, we completed the mural using the words and sentences that the kids chose.

For those who want to translate the mural, here is the alphabet and a Polish to English translator. (Using the virtual keyboard and pressing the “Alt+Ctrl” key you will be able to use the Polish special characters.)

Process Pictures:

Eltono Warsaw
Click on the picture to see a bigger image of the mural.

Eltono V9 Warsaw
The last day, we painted the entrance of V9, the Foundation Vlepvnet headquarter.

Thanks a lot to Vlepvnet and GPAS and in particular to Mati, Mateusz, Maciek, Gołota, Goro, Zrazik and Tomek.

Billboard Appropriation

Utrecht, Netherlands
March 2012

Project in collaboration with Stickit

Action video:

Process pictures:

Thanks Wood, Mores, Merijn Hos, Tibor Kocsis and Stijn Jansen!

TRACES

Ongoing project
Started in September 2011

I have always been fascinated by all the marks, traces and treads that our daily movements leave throughout a city. The idea behind TRACES is to observe and somehow try to register these types of marks. For this purpose, I am working on some experiments that allow for the possible appearance of shapes and lines by exploiting these daily movements.

The first experiment is called Gravure au sol (ground engraving). The idea was to generate graphic works using the city as a studio. The four first attempts with a satisfactory result were executed on the asphalt of three streets (one in France and two in China) registering the passage of cars, motorbikes, bikes and a few pedestrians.

TRACES – experiment 1: Gravure au sol #1

Asphalt engraving on card, 18 cm x 28 cm.
13/09/2011 from 14h25 to 20h20, road D54, France.
Most of the marks were left by cars.

TRACES – experiment 1: Gravure au sol #2

Asphalt engraving on Canson Paper, 18 cm x 28 cm.
14/09/2011 from 9h32 to 16h54, road D54, France.
Most of the marks were left by cars.

TRACES – experiment 1: Gravure au sol #3

Asphalt engraving on Sumiaozhi-8K 160g Paper, 18 cm x 28 cm.
19/10/2011 from 15h00 to 16h19, 学院路 (Xueyuanlu), Beijing, China.
Most of the marks were left by bikes and bicycles.

TRACES – experiment 1: Gravure au sol #4

Asphalt engraving on Sumiaozhi-8K 160g Paper, 18 cm x 28 cm.
24/10/2011 from 15h48 to 16h45, 展春园西路 (Zhanchunyuanxilu), Beijing, China.
Most of the marks were left by cars.

I am in the process of conducting further experiments at this time. As soon as I obtain some more interesting results, I will post more examples.

As the results for these first experiments from the TRACES project are recoverable, they will be available for purchase, with my other graphic works, at the Boutique on this website.

Eredu Mural

Urazurrutia street #20, Bilbao, Spain
September 2011

Mural painting commissioned by Sc Gallery
More about this project here: www.eltono.com/en/exhibitions/eredu

Tiensestraat

M van Museum
Leuven, Belgium
July 2011

Tiensestraat

Project in collaboration with MOMO

During summer 2011, I was invited to Leuven, Belgium, to participate in the first edition of Outomatic. This outdoor art festival was made possible by help from the M van Museum. Hans, the festival organizer, told me about all the empty flag posts visible throughout the city streets, and I instantaneously loved the idea to use them for a project. As I knew that MOMO was also participating in the festival, I asked him if he would like to collaborate with me using a process similar to the one we used during the PLAF project to design flags. We prepared 50 flags during the first five days and we hung them the sixth day in the afternoon. It took us a couple of hours to hang the flags and we worked without any kind of permit. This project is called Tiensestraat because it is named after the street where we put the flags. Today, while writing this page, more than a month after the installation, the flags are still flying…

Video:

50 flags video:

Pictures:

We also painted a mural inside the M van Museum:

Thanks to Hans and the M van Museum.

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Outomatic Festival
M van Museum, Leuven, Belgium
July 2011

Mural project on a wall of the M van Museum; in collaboration with MOMO – The full documentation of our participation in the festival is available here: www.eltono.com/en/projects/tiensestraat