dimanche 13 novembre 2011

Urban hominid with the right angle ...

Le piéton marche les yeux rivés sur le trottoir, obsédé par la crotte. Le déambulateur marche les yeux collés au mur, obsédé par le graffiti. Qui se soucie alors de scruter l’angle formé par le trottoir et le mur ? Sillon favori des mégots froids, feuilles mortes et herbes folles, l’angle se révèle pourtant être un merveilleux champs visuel et libre pour l’artiste qui sait l’exploiter de sa créativité graphique. Lumière rasante ou absente, rencontre brutale des enduits et des pavés, griffes du balayeur méticuleux … Terrain propice à la rébellion discrète, voire à la provocation confidentielle, l’angle est l’endroit qu’a choisi le poly-artiste Pablo Delgado pour exprimer son flow urbain. Ses œuvres jonctionnaires se composent de deux parties : un ou des personnage(s) collé(s) sur le mur et une ou des ombre(s) peinte(s) sur le trottoir … Les personnages sont d’une découpe détaillée et colorée, les ombres d’un tracé approximatif et noir … Patience du travail de préparation en studio clashant avec l’urgence de l’exécution en rue … L’effet contrasté est toujours surprenant, saisissant, intriguant … bref, réussi. Pablo a accepté de répondre à nos trois questions :

Hi Pablo ! Your work combines collages on walls - a removable act on a private space - and paintings on pavements - a permanent act on a public space ... Law enforcement authorities must have a hard time determining your degree of offense ! Is this on purpose ?

It is a nice way to think about it ! It turns the paste-up into a more complex concept … But that is not the purpose … I don't think of the wall as private and the sidewalk as public. Both for me are public and illegal ! I don’t ask permission to do it on these walls, but I don't consider what I do as an offense either. And how would I know if the owner considers it in a different way ? That is part of my choosing to do it at night. Just by doing it like that tells you that maybe I am scared to get caught … The joy of doing something that you are not suppose to do brings you back to your childhood.


I have been told that some pieces identified as your artwork are actually not painted by you … For exemple the little Queen of England. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery ?

Yes, there are paste-ups of already existing characters that were photographed for a different purpose, like public images reinterpreted in a public space ... The little Queens are not mine at all ! When I first saw them, I was angry and disappointed with how someone could have the balls to copy my artwork … Then, just like you say, I started to see it as flattery, or even as an honor for me to inspire someone else to do it. Although I don’t see the point, really … Maybe he is just making fun of it ?

The subjects and objects represented in your collages are sometimes rather simple and sometimes the results of more elaborate montages ... How do you decide what you are going to cut and paste ? Is there a specific message within each collage ?

All the scenes are being developed as a story. The doors came first, then different kinds of red characters, and now the blue ones are appearing and starting to live among the red ones. It could be that all of them came out of the doors … Some of the characters are just individuals whereas others are playing together as in a scene. So these assemblages can be either complex or very simple. They are just like things are in real life ! Now, I need to add that all of them have to remain somewhat uncertain for the viewers. Most of them have an specific meaning for me but, because they are not obvious, they can be interpreted in many different ways.


Well … Thank you, dear Pablo for leaving your artwork open to multiple interpretations … And also for gratifying the streets of London with these little funny pieces ! Actually, what may be even funnier is the way people now walk in the Shoreditch district … Bending all the way forward, nose to the ground on their all fours, to get a chance to glimpse at your collages … A nice - but somewhat regressive - impact on hominid street behavior ! Graffiti hunting, like any evolutionary trait or thought, is always about catching the right angle.

Pablo Delgado est né à Mexico City en 1978 et vit à présent à Londres. Son site web est à www.pablodelgadomc.com !

Interview et photographies sont copyright Serge-Louis pour Brigadier Plipp. Les photographies ont été prises au ras du trottoir sur Fashion Street et Grimsby Street. I do know who did the fake Queen collage but I won’t tell nobody …

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