2019 was, sort of, a strange year for me artistically. A few big projects have come about, such as the Biloba Granada restaurant murals, where I was commissioned to fly down to Granada for a week to paint a restaurant’s five walls. Portraits commissions have also picked up but overall this year feels like artistically it has been a little slow. I am still not being able to live just off my art, and this still stings. With no big new exhibition to hype about or new merch dropped I can say it was an overall sluggish year on my behalf art money and exhibition wise.
And what is my style? Well…I am not sure how to describe it. Certainly a bright palette is involved. A hint towards tropical shapes are visible. Perhaps we could call it Tropical Deconstruction. Deconstructing the colours and shapes I love so dearly of the jungle, the beaches, the animals, that I grew up around in Costa Rica and Latin America, and which I dream about constantly. See below for an example of this colourful blob madness. Wouldn’t that look so damn cool on a pair of socks though??
And how did I get to this style?
I kept thinking I need to stop pretending to be someone I am not, to stop copying styles and themes that don’t truly resonate with me or even feel natural to me. So I decided to focus on a topic which I have always considered unoriginal and hence something I should not do, which is the theme of the tropical. Parrots and toucans, all the really stereotypical stuff. But which I actually love.
However, I said to myself I did not just want to paint a beautiful toucan and a palm tree, that is too obvious, over done, boring! So I kept looking at the shapes, flower shapes, tree shapes, leaves, how your eye cannot focus on one thing but sees it as a mix of shapes and colours, like a colourful camouflage print. Some shapes standing out in contrast here and there. So I decided to work big to try out this idea. With a pinned 2 x 2metre sheet of canvas to my studio wall I got to work on a Frog and Toucan painting, naming it Jungle Love. See below.
Jungle Love was the first piece I actually openly embraced the tropical theme. After hours and hours of playing around with the blobs and the colour palette I decided I will keep on going with this style, and eager to continue to experiment deconstructing the shapes completely to create an abstract piece which gives the viewer the happy, exciting, welcoming feeling, the one that i get when being in the jungle, the beach, being in the sun…
Graffitis
So I took my new found style to the street. Stepping out of my studio-comfort zone and onto the not-as-scary-as-I-thought streets of Barcelona, into the greyish zone of legality that is the Barcelona world of street art.
I was invited out to paint with other Barcelona street artists as well as heading out by myself, I had the time of my life recreating ideas from my mind onto different walls around Selva de Mar, Barcelona.
I am hooked, I can’t wait for the weather to get a little warmer and to make a little more money so I can head out again and paint some more walls with the only intention of brining the lovely tropical jungle vibes to you.
Tropical Portraits
Apart from fully abstract pieces this year I also experimented mixing the tropical camo with portraits. Why did I do this? Because it reflects how I see the inside of these people, fun, colourful, life-loving, adventurous. Perhaps a reflection of the ideal of myself seen in them. Perhaps not the truth but more wishful thinking, seeing the best, seeing what i want to see. Anyways, I quite liked the result and plan to keep going with this too.
Playing with the Abstract
I also played a lot with abstract tropical shapes. I really liked this piece which is built from 4 canvases and which can be moved around, a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. I hope the viewer can mix it up the way they want, being a part of the creation process as well.
Tropical Abstract Erotic Art
Another highlight of 2019 was stepping out my theme comfort zone, and experimenting with erotic art. I have always somewhat admired artists who can focus on erotic themes without crossing into vulgar territory. I have always been curious to tell these stories myself, but unsure how to go about it, and in all honesty, scared of what my family, bosses, colleagues and even my friends might think about it.
So I decided not to go too crude and keep it abstract, making the viewer have to question themselves on what they were seeing. Below are a few examples of Tropical Abstract Erotic art from 2019.
Dos Chicas. Acrylic on Canvas. 1m x 1m (pretty big! And very heavy due to the kilos of paint poured onto it!)
I would still consider them Tropical due to the colours, shapes and stories behind them. I would love the viewer to be taken into a day dream, where in their own imagination they are sent into a tropical lust frenzy.
And there we have it! These are my humble, personal and passionate artistic highlights of 2019. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them! Tropical Deconstruction, from full on completely abstract pieces, to mixing it in portraits, to erotic pieces, on canvas, walls and potentially in the future printed onto socks, bags…. the opportunities are endless. I can’t wait, I think 2020 will be the year of Tropical Deconstruction, keep your eyes open for it!