A note of color for a sober industrial area, which until not long ago was populated by large warehouses.
This is the striking change that the area known as El Rosón has undergone in Getafe (Madrid), made up of blocks with construction projects in their infancy or half built.
Of all these, none is as obvious as that of a student residence, still unfinished, which already has a colorful mural on its façade in which the letters that form the word home can be seen superimposed.
A work of urban art that is the latest adventure of the Boa Mistura collective from Madrid, whose work has already taken them all over the world.
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Urban art and heritage of the neighbors in the murals of Madrid
This is a project promoted by the company Livensa Living, builder of several student residences in Spain, which has opted to commission works by some of the most renowned urban artists on the national scene in three new spaces.
In addition to the intervention of Boa Mistura in the Getafe residence, the Catalan illustrator and muralist Marina Capdevila has done the same in Granada and the also Catalan Uriginal in Alcobendas, also in the Community of Madrid.
The selection of the artists has been in charge of the production company Rebobinart, focused on the adaptation and integration of urban art to the environment in which it is located.
Pablo Purón, one of the founders of Boa Mistura, considers that the project has several aspects that make it attractive for his group.
“The most interesting thing is how it was conceived.
Buildings are being projected that already have a space reserved for urban art.
That was unthinkable seven or eight years ago,” he explains.
He also highlights the fact that working in Madrid always attracts them because they already spend "200 days away from home", and collaborating with Rebobinart implies knowing "that everything will be well controlled".
Since they started with five components, Boa Mistura has been determined to try to live from what they like.
“The team grows and decreases depending on the moment.
Now we are nine ”, he sums up.
Pablo Ferreiro and Javier Ballesteros paint the mural of the residence on a crane.
KIKE FOR
The group also includes Pablo Ferreiro and Javier Ballesteros, who joined the production of the mural when it had already begun because, as the former explains, they tend to carry out “several projects at the same time”.
Although they had little time to capture their art on the facade of the residence, at Boa Mistura they consider that this was, as usual, the easiest part of their work process.
The creative and planning phase of pre-production is the one they take the most care of.
That does not mean that some adjustments do not take place and that, as Ballesteros points out, they are subject to unforeseen events.
The weather determines everything.
“The wind and especially the rain, but we are in the street and things are like that”, he comments.
To be efficient and meet the deadline, the group works taking advantage of all the hours of sunshine that there are,
To supervise the process has been the same person who contacted them, Marc García, director of Rebobinart.
“What has to be looked at is that the mural has the best conditions, so that there is no negative stimulus while the artists work.
I have to stop the brown ones in any way”, he comments.
Like the members of Boa Mistura, the concept of a building conceived with the idea of including urban art intrigued him.
García is in favor of architects realizing that their creations benefit from a contemporary component that dialogues with their environment.
Of course, always with caution and pulling logic.
“What we have to achieve is to generate murals with a social context, that are explanatory of the territory, taking care of the neighbors.
If you are not careful, you can erase the memory of a town”, he warns.
The mural in process on the facade of the residence under construction. KIKE PARA
It is not always easy for urban artists to find spaces and projects with the guarantees like on this occasion.
Most of them know very well what it is like to work without legal or economic support.
There are also occasions in which controversy persecutes them, even when they have the permission and commission of a city council.
Boa Mistura had to go through the latter in 2020, when they colored the Alhóndiga sports center in Getafe, a work by the architect Miguel Fisac.
It is an episode that they do not find pleasant to remember, but from which they draw some conclusions.
"We believe that it opens a necessary debate," says Purón.
“We all have to reflect.
From the administrations, which are the ones that have the supports that can receive urban art, to the promoters, managers, curators and architects, who are the link between administrations and creators.
Artists too, of course,” he adds.
García insists on the importance of maintaining "a circuit of legal walls around the world so that they can be painted", as well as "validation by cities and a public-private budget".
Projects such as the student residence, with all the parties involved, mean an important step forward for them.
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