Felipe Pincel and the Strength of Migrant Memory at KROMATIC

Felipe PincelI'm Felipe Pincel Echeverría, a Chilean writer and artist, based in Barcelona for almost eight years now. On this occasion I'm working in muralism.

How did the invitation to take part in Kromatic come about?

Felipe PincelAmong all the proposals that come in over the year for different festivals, I applied as I would to any other. The wall really interested me, and the theme this particular wall had chimed closely with what I usually do.

What did you want to convey?

Felipe PincelThe wall is about migration. Originally the festival brief needed something about migration from southern Spain to Barcelona, from Andalusia to Catalonia, in another era; and I tried to widen that and make it far more universal.

I put in this Latin American mother with two children, and my intention is that the baby is the same child who later grows up: that is why you see an almost transparent overlap between the hand and the child's face. Because we understand that people evolve and adopt the place where they choose to live, not necessarily the one they come from. You always carry your roots, but also the place where you choose to live.

Your work has a symbolic and social charge, and explores indigenous and Latin American themes. That comes through here too.

Felipe PincelExactly. I insist that art should be a reflection of each person, and working with truth is what matters most. In this case my truth is that I come from a place I would like to present in this European context, and it has to do with indigenism; also as a political act, in the sense of setting aside that stock image of the white person who is everywhere —in film, in advertising— and establishing that other kinds of people exist too.

How long do you work on a mural before you start painting?

Felipe PincelWhen I read the project brief, I immediately start to have a mental image of what I want to do. After that it is just a matter of carrying it out. I often work from photography, sometimes from photographs I come across, and from there I build up this rhetoric, this dialogue that will take place between what gets painted and the people who will look at it. I start working from minute one: reading the brief, and from then on it is all work.

What does urban art mean to you?

Felipe PincelIn my case it is everything, because I have lived off art for many years. I am lucky to be able to say I live off art, which is extremely hard for many people: there are a lot of young people starting out who wonder «can you make a living from art?». Yes, you can live off art.

I chose to do urban art, but I also have studio work: I consider myself a painter, so I paint every minute. I am at home painting and I am out in the street painting.

Painting, illustration, muralism and also the tattoo world: that is where you started.

Felipe PincelStrictly speaking, no: I went from painting to tattooing and now from tattooing back to painting. I started studying very young at an art school in Chile and from then on I never stopped living off art. I spent many years tattooing professionally, and when I decided to come to Europe it was partly to take up painting again and set tattooing aside. I think it was a good decision.

When you paint, how do you shut out the public watching you?

Felipe PincelRather than shutting it out, I do the opposite: I try to join the space, to talk to the people walking past, to get to know them a little. By the first or second day I am talking to the neighbours. At first they are unsure what you are doing, but by the third day they start to see something more put together and they are curious enough to ask what it is about.

And that is wonderful, because feedback builds up between the people of the place and me, painting. Because ultimately it stays for them: I leave in four or five days.

What have people been saying to you these days?

Felipe PincelOn the whole the vibe has been very good. I have never had many haters while I'm doing it. People walking past first wanted to know why this was being done there; once I explained, their stance changed immediately and they would say «I'll come by tomorrow to see it». And, as I say, it is a recurring thing that people end up making the mural their own.

Do you think murals like yours change a neighbourhood's awareness?

Felipe PincelMore than changing awareness, there is a questioning, a query as to why it was done; and with that, for me, it already works. Understanding why there is this Latin American, or let's call it indigenist, iconography in a neighbourhood right in the middle of Europe: the context is wild, and if that question is there, my work has already worked. I expect nothing more than that: a question and a curiosity.

What would you say to the new generation of artists who want to paint murals?

Felipe PincelI don't know much about giving that kind of advice. I think the best advice is to do what you love and to study: if you like muralism or drawing, study the history, study the techniques, and don't let it be only rhetoric or only concept — let there be something beautiful for people too.

And to the people of Sant Andreu de la Barca, who are left with this mural?

Felipe PincelFirst, to thank them for the welcome: people with a really good spirit. And I hope they enjoy it.

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