On the first draft of this feature I wrote that, perhaps, the A
Peregrina’s house doesn’t have the greatness and pomposity, which on its day,
five hundred years ago, did have the Lorenzo de' Medici’s florentinian
residence; there, where, a thirteen-years-old Michelangelo Buonarroti practiced
his firts incursions on the Carrara’s white stone. I did also write that the
person responsible for this creativity space to be possible, on a crisis context,
was a sort of a postmodern patron. But, it all sounded a little far away from
reality, thus idealized. Nevertheless, the truth is that in a place called Sarela de
Arriba, on the outskirts of the city of Santiago de Compostela, there is an old
house where a few people is living in and paying only two euros per day. In
exchange, the are given an space where they can, freely, create, create and
create. Which other word, that is not patron, would you rather use to describe
a person who have almost literally gave away his own property to whoever wants to
come along and introduce themselves in the so reviled, and at the same time,
admired, world of the artistic creation?
Olmo Blanco (Boiro, 1982) it’s known by the name of o bedel (the janitor) at the A Peregrina’s house, and he is the
patron we’re talking about. He decided to make a good use of his family house,
after it had been abandoned for ten years. In the summer of 2010 he created the Episodio Piloto (Pilot Episode), an
artistic meeting willing, not only to show art pieces, but also to create an
encounter for all those creators who might want to join in. In 2011 took place the
second edition of this event, and from last-year September, and so on, the A
Peregrina’s house has been filled with life.
At the present time, Diego Vites (O Grove, 1986), Ania González (Vigo)
Iztiar Álvarez Bocalandro (Madrid) and Paulina Funes (Mendoza, Argentina), plus
Olmo Blanco, are living at this art house, but at its workshop do also work
jewelers like Bruno Varela (Cambados, 1983). The idea came to Olmo's mind because
the house was too big for him to work and live on his own, and now as he
says “working is easier, because with more people you can always find motivation,
exchange ideas and innovate”. It is a proposals and ideas’ melting pot , and it
awakes a feeling of well-being and fraternity. “In the past few years we have made a lot of progress, we make this place and habitable place”, Olmo adds and follows,
“the space defined itself little by little and now it has a meaning”.
Places as A Peregrina’s house are necessary for people like Diego Vites,
who yet arrived from Tenerife needed a place where he can work, and get in touch with his Galician artists colleagues. “It all came for living
together in here”, Diego says, “the space defined itself day a day”.
A shed, a storehouse for the art pieces, a jewel workshop, painting,
sculpture, a forest at the a backyard, with a trailer where music groups have
rehearsed and recorded soundtracks, beautiful views and surroundings, plus people who share the
same concerns as you do, and just for 2 euros per day. For Itziar Álvarez it’s a
retirement from the Madrilenian urban lifestyle. “I’m here trying to find my
own voice; find what I want to do with my life”, it’s a break from the nonstop life at
the city, and also “having a morning coffee with this views has no price”, she comments.
None of them think that making a living out of art is easy. They
basically depend on art contests and occasional sells. Is this an underrated
profession? Well for Olmo it is a two-sided coin because “the public events are
surrounded by glamour, but the reality is far away from that”, they are
“Bohemian myths”, adds Diego. Depending on which kind of style you’re working
in, you can have good and profitable times as an artist but, exceptionally, at
this profession, you don’t always get paid for your final product. “Often they
pay you for the art-piece production, and they offer you a success promise for exhibiting
your work on a well-known gallery”, affirms Diego Vites. Olmo does even
remember to use his work as currency, what he thinks, would be very interesting,
but (personal note) I doubt any MP would willingly accept an sculpture salary no matter how much for Galician culture could it represent.
For Bruno Varela the reality is even darker. He has his own space at the
A Peregrina’s house, where he works with silver, black amber and varnish, but
contests or jewel exhibitions hardly exist, and he depends on sells and particular
orders, in a field often underestimated, and he has to compete against
industrial production as well. Although there is a long-time tradition on jewel-making
in Santiago de Compostela, and it has also public demand, he sees his future as jeweller complicated, chiefly in a market that “keeps on selling the same things that
centuries ago”. In addition, he claims that in countries like Turkey, jewellery
is part of the University studies. “The fact that jewellery in here [Spain] is
not part of a degree implies your chances and means of financing, as
scholarships, are really low”.
Markets and taboos
¿Do we still have forbidden topics on art? Diego and Olmo consider that we do. Themes as sexual modesty, religion, politics and social issues could have
been treated on previous art experiences but “our society hasn’t got over them
yet”, according to Olmo. The institutional markets only approve and promote
artists and art pieces that “will perpetuate their point of view” and galleries,
whose purpose is mainly economic, have also some weak leaks where ideology
prejudices can go trough, helping in the maintaining of the status quo.
Diego Vites considers that Galicia artistic cultura de seu (its own culture) is a culture of smallholding
creation. Different and small organizations spread throughout Galicia achieve on
producing an authentic and original culture production. For Olmo Blanco what's institutional is out of cultura de
seu. “The society does no go to [exhibition] centres and those centres does
not represent the society”, concludes.
Corollary
If Susan Sontag happens to come back from her grave, nowadays, and here
in Galicia, she might think, she is actually in the past, and not in the 21st century. She,
who wrote this in On Photography, published
in 1975, would have thought that in 2012 things would be, on the Western world,
in another level:
“The freakish is no longer a private zone, difficult of access. People who are bizarre, in sexual disgrace, emotionally vacant are seen daily on the newsstands, on TV, in the subways. Hobbesian man roams the streets, quite visible, with glitter in his hair.”
Well, maybe is because we still have
a long way ahead. Given that Franco (Spanish dictator) died in that year (1975), and
that Mr Manuel Fraga (Franco’s ex-minister) have just perish. Perhaps the big change
is yet to come. But certainly not the one People's Party has promised to bring on
our country.
PD: the guys and girls from A
Peregrina will come back soon. Stay Tuned.
Galego / Español
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