B:K and Learning as a Vital Metaphor at KROMATIC

B:KHello, I'm B:K, I'm from La Seu d'Urgell and I'm a painter and muralist.

What does the mural you have painted here in Sant Andreu de la Barca represent?

B:KThey gave me a brief: my mural had to be about education, since we were surrounded by schools, and it had to convey positivity. I took that concept and moved it towards more nostalgic ground: a girl remembering playing with her friends. There is a paper boat she remembers, and you see it as the memory, as if drawn by a small child.

From the project arriving to you having the idea clear, what is that process like?

B:KThe hardest part is always reaching agreement with councillors and the culture department, because I go off down one track and they go down another. So we try to find a middle ground where we are both comfortable, and this is what comes out.

You are the youngest artist in this edition of Kromatic. When did you start painting murals?

B:KI started just before covid, more or less. I went to paint at the Gar-Gar festival and from there I jumped to another one; small jobs came up, I got to know people, and things keep coming.

What does urban art and taking part in initiatives like this mean to you?

B:KI love leaving my work all over Catalonia, and further afield if possible. And I'm hugely grateful that local people come to see it and love it: they sit on the bench there in the afternoon and come to watch me paint, and they cheer me on and bring me water. Water, which matters on days as hot as these.

While you paint, people give their opinions. Do they make suggestions?

B:KMore than suggestions, everyone sees what they want to see: «ah, you've painted so-and-so, and the children from wherever». And I say yes. Everyone sees their own stories in it, and that is great, because the people here, who are the ones who see it every day, make it their own.

Why did you start doing urban art?

B:KAs a child I drew a lot of comics, character design, that sort of thing. And once I went to an urban art festival and I was struck by seeing the same thing I did —characters and so on— but in that format: the impact they had really got to me, and I thought: I want to do this.

Happy with your career so far?

B:KHappy, yes, but you have to keep fighting to get further and to do bigger things.

Did you know the other artists in this edition: Roc Blackblock, Lula Goce, Taquen, Dan Ferrer…?

B:KI knew most of them through social media, because in the end they are the people who have driven the whole urban art world here in Catalonia: like it or not, they are reference points. And Irene, who I have also painted alongside this year, I met at the first festival I went to and she taught me a huge amount; we have met again here and it has been lovely.

Have they given you any advice?

B:KThey always do. They are people with a lot of experience, and everything they tell me I take and welcome: I'm like a sponge.

When you finish the mural, the work will no longer be yours. What do you hope for?

B:KAbove all that they make it their own and that everyone feels comfortable with the mural. And I think the place is perfect, because it was quite a long, very grey wall, and now it is like a point of colour here in the middle, between the schools.

Anything that can inspire the young people and the schoolchildren here is welcome, because at their age I would have loved to see someone doing this next to me.

What difficulties did you find with this wall?

B:KThe wall is very good because it is smooth, and technically it lets me do more or less whatever I want. That is great, because normally we get more texture. I have no complaints about the wall.

Do you think art should be more in the street and less in galleries?

B:KIt has to be in the street. The thing is we are also in an age when I think there is too much art everywhere, and a lot of bad art; and so people may be a bit saturated. What I would like is for there to be quality artists teaching others.

What have your influences been?

B:KSince I haven't always come from urban art and graffiti, I have come from many things. At first it was more illustrators and comic artists; then urban artists started to influence me, the Aryz sort of thing. And lately I love going to the Prado and places like that, because Caravaggio and Velázquez influence me a lot: the brushwork they had, what they conveyed. Right now they are the people who stimulate me most.

Video by Ràdio Sant Andreu. Abridged version: direct quotes are kept; repetitions, overlapping speech and passages unrelated to the project are left out.