Frasquito Raymond Gil-Urquijo
“I started drawing only a couple of years ago, so my memories are quite fresh. I always loved drawing but never gave it a chance, partially because I have an innate inability for it and never wanted to take classes. I am totally ignorant when it comes to art and everything that resembles it”.
“I started drawing only a couple of years ago, so my memories are quite fresh. I always loved drawing but never gave it a chance, partially because I have an innate inability for it and never wanted to take classes. I am totally ignorant when it comes to art and everything that resembles it”.
FRASQUITO RAYMOND GIL-URQUIJO
FRASQUITO RAYMOND GIL-URQUIJO
From artist’s archives
"The day Antonio Mairena dedicated some fandangos to my cousin Higinio at San Pablo tabanco, in 1971 Jerez de la Frontera’s fair".
The Tabanco is a unique establishment born in Jerez de la Frontera (Andalusia), which Cervantes already mentions in his “Journey to Parnassus” in XVI century. It’s a meeting place to sing flamenco, promote flamenco singers and dispatch Sherry and distillate wines, very cold at two thirds the full catavino. They have a large wooden bar, dirt floor that is sometimes watered, and old oak barrels.
Sherry wine, especially Oloroso and also Torito are dispatched directly from the tap barrel. And good fine wines like La Mina, Maestro Sierra and El Aljibe in little glasses are only found in this area. Subsequently half stopper wines were served, which were the second brands of the main wineries.
LES COULEURS: What is your dream project?
Frasquito Raymond Gil-Urquijo: The one I’m actually embarked on, “La Familia de Frasquito”, which contains many sub-stories as spin-offs of the main one. It’s a story of a curious character, Don Frasquito Raymond-Gil Urquijo. Born in the early twentieth century in Baja Andalusia, in Jerez de la Frontera, he is a practicing Andalusian and a prominent traveler at a time when traveling was unknown. A kind of George Bradshaw to the Spanish without the travel book (the author recommends Great British Railway Journeys of the great Michael Portillo revisiting Bradshaw’s travels). Inside this very long series there are many different plots and stories, related to things I’m interested in, like the different cactus families, gastronomy or whatever that I like, travels or simply specific anecdotes that I found surreal enough to inspire me to draw.
LC: What is your earliest memory of picking up a paintbrush?
FRGU: I started drawing only a couple of years ago, so my memories are quite fresh. I always loved drawing but never gave it a chance, partially because I have an innate inability for it, because I never wanted to take classes (as I think one could be bias to your ideas or make you pay more attention to various techniques). I am totally ignorant when it comes to art and everything that resembles it. I was naturally attracted to naïve painting because I thought could fit with my inability to draw, Condo’s drawings, Rousseau’s jungles, rhino drawings for babys and even animal clay figures. The ignition point happened when by chance I came across 5 small drawings from a mediocre Hungarian painter called Gyulia Czimra in the National Gallery in Budapest, after a painful 4 hours visit. I got stuck on them for their simplicity and beauty.
LC: What exhibitions are you working on or have you participated in?
FRGU: The sad story The New Dentures of My Cousin Adela la de Carmona was selected for the international exhibition Love Your Body – we need different eyes, held in Milan in 2020. I’m especially proud of being the first amateur artist portrayed in the Spanish travel & art magazine “Revista en Perspectiva”. Nowadays I’m fully engaged in designing and writing the first book about Frasquito, drawing some works for a charity auction in Miami that get me truly excited, and deciding whether to exhibit or not in a couple of places in Dubai, where I live and work. I am deeply grateful to every art magazine or curator who paid attention to my work. Especially grateful to the first publisher,- Wild Things Zine “The Incredible World of Frasquito Family”.
FRASQUITO RAYMOND GIL-URQUIJO
From artist’s archives
4. What’s your background?
FRGU: I have zero background in art, I am a real outsider. I am a physician, doctor naval engineer with honors, working in consulting, with zero family bonds to art. I am self-taught without any classes or tutorials, that way I keep my work authentic, unbiased, fresh and without any constraint.
5. Professionally, what is your goal?
FRGU: Clearly,-to make people smile, have a fun time as they enter Frasquito’s world. Think and learn some funny, surreal or interesting stuff. I don’t use my work to project any deep personal beliefs, thoughts or commitments. My artwork tends to be surreal, funny and educational. Having said that, in Frasquito you can also find a mix of bittersweet tragicomedy. In some cases joy and smiles hide a sad story or thought that the viewer has to be able to unravel.
FRASQUITO RAYMOND GIL-URQUIJO
From artist’s archives
6. Name 3 artists you would like to be compared to.
FRGU: To be compared are very serious words, but if I have to choose 3 artists I love, I would say: Guillermo Perez Villalta (at a time the only alive painter having work at The Prado Museum, who was also born near my hometown), undoubtedly Yayoi Kusama and the fabulous self-universe of George Condo. I would love to keep this personal fresh blend of naiveness and weirdness. In my opinion this comes as a result of my lack of knowledge, technique and natural inability to draw.
7. If you could work within a past art movement, which would you be?
FRGU: Probably fauvism, because they don’t care about perspective, modeling or three-dimensional structure, and use strong colors to create very simple compositions. Could also be a kind of surrealism, taking out their psychoanalytic theory and the automatism as creation method in which I don’t believe. Probably the closer movement to what I understand as surrealism, even though there is only a remote parallelism with Frasquito’s work, it is Mario Camus’ existentialism - absurdism and his definition of absurd, that I encourage all our friends to read.
8. What role does the artist have in the society?
FRGU: From a influential point of view, clearly a pariah one, absolutely irrelevant. From a deeper human-being dimension probably a key role, as a way to understand the different realities and the history through many different lenses with many different flavors, or isolate people from their mundane daily issues.
9. Which artists from the past would you most like to meet?
FRGU: Without any kind of doubt, the Spanish genius Rafael Guastavino. The true brain behind New York’s architecture. With way less excitement, the anonymous German who painted the “Portrait of a Lady Wearing the Order of The Swan” in 1490.
10. How would you define beauty in 140 characters or less?
FRGU: This is a very difficult question, as it touches upon the concept of deep neurological knowledge combined with emotions, cultural backgrounds and many subjective variables, that I’m not able to identify and weight at this point of time. Then, to keep it simple, I will refer to the dictionary definition that I love: “any person, animal or thing who stands out for this quality”, and to add some light to this example … “Rafaela was one of the most admired beauties of the night”.
11. What art do you mostly identify with?
FRGU: Hungarian painter Gyula Czimra. As a tribute to him for igniting my desire to draw, only couple of miles away from where Erik Weisz was born to become legendary Harry Houdini, whose name honored his French spiritual master Robert-Houdin. However, let me say that my art is a kind of conceptual one where the idea is what matters, as stupid as it might be, with a mix of composition and colors, and always a funny story behind. I identify myself with so many anonymous, talented amateur artists that have their own and unique personality, and are able to show it without copying anyone else.
Kale Barr’s Beautiful Mess
Kale Barr transports experiences from his past and his present onto canvas while using his unique color blending and layering technique. The artist wants the viewers to internalize their own moments of lightness and darkness, thus leaving behind “the beautiful mess”.
Kale Barr transports experiences from his past and his present onto canvas while using his unique color blending and layering technique. The artist wants the viewers to internalize their own moments of lightness and darkness, thus leaving behind “the beautiful mess”.
INTERVIEW WITH KALE BARR
KALE BARR
From artist’s archives
Kale Barr is a Canadian artist living and working in Calgary, Alberta. Barr’s dream-like abstract expressionist paintings are inspired by a combination of his real-life experiences and the transformative nature of his surroundings. Inspired by Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and George Condo, Barr uses a unique blend of color layering that utilizes acrylic and oil paint with wild yet calculated paint splashes. His painting technique creates works that simultaneously enthrall and still the viewer. His work invites the viewer into his raw yet animated world of swirling color and dark chaos. Within Barr’s work is a balance of harmony and destruction, letting go of perfection and symmetry, leaving behind a “beautiful mess.” Having lived across Canada, Nevada, and Washington, Barr’s life has been one of ever-changing dramatic surroundings, both naturally and personally. His work emotes a shared journey in all of us, through dark and through light. Created from within his world of vivid subject matters that he draws out from within, he leaves a piece of his story in each of them.
LES COULEURS: What is your dream project?
KALE BARR: Collaboration with Canadian composer,- Howard Shore, designing with a high fashion brand.
LC: What kind of music are you listening to currently? Name 5.
KB: Dr. Dre, Machine Gun Kelly, MHNUS, Rüfüs Du Sol, Frank Sinatra.
LC: What exhibitions are you working on or have you participated in?
KB: Here are some I participated in 2021: A Retrospective in Banff Alberta, Fuck You Exhibition in Calgary Alberta, Home Exhibition in Calgary Alberta.
Yudian Art Fair mainland China 2022, Art Me Limited Frankfurt Germany 2022, Dreamlike exhibition Calgary Alberta 2022.
KALE BARR
From artist’s archives
LC: What’s your earliest memory of a paintbrush?
KB: I watched my grandmother paint a cross with a portrait of Jesus crying as a young boy, I was maybe 8-10 years old. That is the first memory that comes to mind with a paint brush.
LC: What’s your background?
KB: Self taught, I had learning disabilities from some childhood trauma and neurological disorder called synesthesia. I was extremely mis-assessed as a child. It made me feel like something was wrong with me. It shut off my desire at an early age to be nurtured by those who have done before me. I knew early on that I had to understand the principles of education, but find my own purpose within the teachings on my own.
KALE BARR
From artist’s archives
LC: Professionally, what’s your goal?
KB: Sotheby’s or Christie’s Auction Houses would be a professional goal for sure.
LC: Name three artists you’d like to be compared to.
KB: I don’t want to be compared to these artists, I just want to do them justice by honoring their influence and attitude: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Nava, George Condo.
LC: Which artist of the past would you most like to meet?
KB: Jean-Michel Basquiat.
KALE BARR
From artist’s archives
LC: What is your greatest indulgence in life?
KB: Watches, eating pasta, that moment when the paint hits the canvas!
LC: Why do you make and receive studio visits?
KB: Studio visits make you vulnerable, but they also give you great perspective.
LC: How would you define beauty in 140 characters or less?
KB: “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it,”- said Confucius. This influence of perspective, beauty is having every reason to give up, and choosing not to.
LC: What role does the artist have in society?
KB: The artist’s roll… well for me this feels like an endless question. Art is everything, the creative collective, the painter, the dancer, the writer, the musician, the poet, without art we cannot defy the restraints of reality, we cannot evolve without art. Art is a healer, it’s a purpose and the very breath we need in order to live. I believe my roll at least as an artist is the share a story for the ones that are like me and who cannot articulate their own. To put people into a moment even if it’s only for just that, a moment to reflect and find something within themselves. I cannot say what we are supposed internalize, but I know I want to give each person a moment. Timeless.