Contemporary artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada recently worked on a new mural for the GarGar festival in Penelles near Lleida in Catalunya.
For the last 2 years, the artist has focused on working on lines and movement, which allows him to play with various textures and techniques. This mural is another example of the unified aesthetic that the artist has developed in the last few years. Gerada’s murals now bridge together all of the artist’s directions, including his land-art works, sculptures and paintings.
Gargar Festival 2022
The annual Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival was created by Binomic.cat who wants to promote the artistic culture in the rural world, turning the village of Penelles into a reference point, engaging people in a unique project of which we can be proud. Also, it aims at energising the village and promote tourism.
This year, the festival was held on 29th, 30th of April and the 1st of May 2022 in Penelles.
“The festival hopes to generate resources that allow us to correct the effects of time and the deterioration of our streets, reinspiring hope in our neighbours.” – Gargar Festival
Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival was born from the need and the strong determination to add a distinguishing value to the village of Penelles. The objective is to appreciate, encourage and give visibility to street art and alternative ways of artistic expression in public rural areas.
DESEANDO ALAS (WISHING FOR WINGS)
The mural is situated on the side of a residential building at the entrance of the town, located on the corner of Carrer de Roques. Gerada’s mural is approximately 12m x 10m and was created using exterior latex paint.
Gerada set out to create a mural that draws attention to the plight of loss of population in rural areas. A lot of Gerada’s work is rooted in the context of the location and the history of where he creates his work. The Gargar festival uses muralism to bring interest and people back to the town of Penelles without the worry of the negative aspect of gentrification, which is an evident issue in cities.
The use of the hashtag symbol in the design alludes to the need for more people to see what is happening here, and in rural towns across the world. The bird in this mural is an endangered bird that is used as a symbol for this festival. Gerada gave talks to school children about street art and the world in general. Two students were able to gain credits that would go towards their art degrees, by assisting the artist and learning valuable techniques, such as use of equipment, paint mixing, preparation and process.
The mural took one week to be completed.
Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is a contemporary Cuban-American artist based in Barcelona, Spain. He is internationally recognized for creating his works on a large scale in urban space, sometimes so large that they can be seen from space and photographed by satellite. He is recognized for using walls and streets as canvases and citizens as role models to create powerful works around the world.
Take a look below for more photos of the mural.
Photos Courtesy of Gerada
Source: StreetArt - streetartnews.net
