A part of my heart is in Spain
IN DEFENCE OF THE NAÏVE
love storms. I love rain. I think a lot of people sweating it out in 48 degress centigrade in northern India share this love for rain, clouds and stormy weather with me. In my first sketch for the street art wall mural, I drew our dog Ajibo with me and then boyfriend V, away from the storm. For me this was an image to communicate how I was feeling with a new addition of this love-crazy puppy to our lives. That’s one layer of content: the personal. Then, this sketch was shown to the head of the city council of Carballo, Spain - who heads the street art project and is responsible for the funding, the production et all. Then the initial sketch was shown to the lady who owns the house whose wall I would be painting.
The initial sketch, in my delighted escape from the Delhi summer was cloudy, windy and stormy. The mausam of my soul. But the lady found it dark and depressing.
I had other ideas about the mural but I had only mentioned them in text and who can imagine a painting from a few lines of text? I did the second draft using warm colours. I never use warm colours. I don’t know why. I love the mystery of blues and greens. For years these are the only two colours in my wardrobe. Its natural that they are the colours I always pick for the pallete too.
But this is not my sketchbook, it is someone’s house and someone’s money and together this wall will become an experience for someone else who walks past it. Here is where it comes in. ¿How can you use your work to make people smile? It’s a naïve question, yes. But it’s also a fundamental one.
I always find myself between two points. I love realism but I also love surrealism. I love to see the sun break the sky into a hundred shades of orange red pink yellow and purple but I also value the hundred thoughts inside my head. What you see and what you think. Truth and humour. I don’t want to show you a beetle that I drew 20 times and have mastered. I want to show you all my memories. I want to show you all the things that touched me and I want to show you how I feel here. But that’s not it, I want to you feel something too. I want your thought that you carried in your mind to be forgotten when you see this wall. I want you to stop a moment and look a little closer. I want you to smile.
PREDICTING THE FUTURE
o you think you have something - an idea - something to start. you think you have a timeline - you think you know when its going to finish and be ready. Hahaha, always starts the same way. So ready so sure. As one progresses and thinks and makes stuff more ideas start popping up. What if there was a seal? What if the fish are taxis? What if they are metaphors of release from sadness, coming up ? Right. So we add those new details, and more. Slowly things are changing, for the better. More details, more stories. Oh but the deadline. Flight out in 29 days! I want to put everything! Energy levels vary everyday, some days are for giant brushes and painting backgrounds and covering ground. Other days are for tiny details and small point and adding depth. Very exciting very exhausting. I know this feeling from graphic design too, adding flourishes - making things more functional, more memorable, more beautiful. What keeps you brain and body ready to perform well? Exercise, good food, good friends, good breaks make good work. Now I rest, until tomorrow.
I gathered people's good memories and made a wall to collate them and remember these wonderful moments. Commissioned by the city council of Carballo along with my ever inspiring amigas Paula, Roberta, Elin we had a splendidly productive and fun 2014.
Here's some of the process:
"¡Aquí viene un proyecto muy divertido! Estoy haciendo un mural como parte de "arte callejero" en Carballo, cerca de A Coruña. Para hacerlo más divertido, necesito vuestra contribución aquí en España, para animar el mural. Estoy creando una obra de arte sobre la muralla, que se trata de SENTIRSE BIEN, y estaría encantada si podréis añadir uno de vuestros recuerdos bonitos, por favor. Voy a tratar de incorporar algunos de vuestros recuerdos en el mural, y estaré en contacto con vosotros mientras esté progresando. ¡Muchas gracias!
Here's a project that is so much fun! I'm making a mural as part of street art in Carballo near A Coruña, Spain. To make it more fun I need your inputs here in Spain to power the mural. I'm making an artwork on the wall about FEELING GOOD and would love it if you could enter in one of your fond memories please. I will collate some of your memories into the mural here and be in touch with you as it develops. Mucho Gracias!"
[contact-form][contact-field label='Nombre| Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='Edad| Age' type='url'/][contact-field label='Ciudad-La Region| City-Country' type='text'/][contact-field label='Cuenteme las sus memorias cariñosas par favor. | Please tell me about your fond memory...' type='textarea' required='1'/][contact-field label='Otros commentarios si tenels. | Any other comments' type='text'/][/contact-form]
© 2017 Samia Singh