Pez (artist)

Pez art in Barcelona

Pez (Spanish for "fish") (born 1976) is a Spanish graffiti artist.

Background

Pez started painting in 1999 in his hometown Barcelona. Specifically, he got into street art writing his signature, which soon took the shape of a fish. "Little by little his tags turned into the shape of a smiling blue fish, and he became a celebrity throughout Barcelona".[1]

Writing that peculiar signature, and influenced by comic and urban subcultures, he is interested in searching for a character whose language was universal. This was the birth of his famous character with the universal and timeless language of the smile, Pez was born! A fish character with a huge smile. He found a way to communicate and spread good vibrations to the pedestrians of Barcelona, this was his way to talk with the Barcelona citizens.

In the early 2000s, Pez began to travel around Spain invited by graffiti contests and urban art exhibitions: Madrid, Pamplona, Las Palmas, Valencia, Bilbao, Sevilla. After a few years he began spreading his smile around Europe and was invited to show his work in art galleries: Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, ...

In 2006, he travelled to South America to paint in Caracas, Bogota and Lima. Some months after, Pez took part in the K-Swiss Tour, a brand that leads the Asian painting market. The K-Swiss Tour brought him to Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei.

During the last few years, Pez has exhibited in Bogotá, Barcelona, Hamburg, Paris, London, NY, Portland and Los Angeles.

His works appear in the best-known street art books: Street Logos, Art of Rebellion, Street Art, Bcn New York, ... in specialized magazines and internet websites. His work also appears in documentaries such as: "Bomb It-The Movie", Muros Libres", Free Walls" and "A Primer on Urban Painting".

More recently, Pez has been creating several characters, not only his fish character, but also demons, angels, giraffes, and Martians. There is one thing they all have in common... A huge and infectious unique smile.

As a result of his focus on spreading his "good vibes" further than streets and galleries, he has been able to "talk" with more people around the world and in 2011 he decided to create his own line of products: graffiti spray cans, backpacks, mobile cases, apparel, plushies, ...

Nowadays, Pez is showing his art in galleries, festivals, international art fairs and art auctions.

Notable exhibitions and works

About his work

Pez does not represent any crew of graffiti writers, he paints with the world. The reason for Pez's unique tag is in his words, "I was hoping it would be different from other writers, because i've found the way to mix letters and logo." Pez says he does not play the competitive game, he just paints because he loves to paint. The paint Pez uses is made in Barcelona called Montana Cans. It is Pez's favorite brand but he will use any paint. When asked what his favorite things to paint on his response was, "I love store shutters and rubbish walls at the center of the city. I like track sides too and the highway spots. I'm looking for places that my pieces will remain for the longest time possible."

Straight From The Artist

Pez likes paint everywhere, reggae parties, dancehall queens, Caribbean beach, drum and bass Montanan cans, fat-cap, ekosystem.org, happy characters, Bob Sponja, free entry, and free beer. Pez dislikes police in helicopters, TV trash, the airports, hypocrisy, war, and the typical questions of street art. His favorite place in the world is Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. To Pez, Barcelona is the city where he lives, enjoys, works, and does his best parties. His best friends and his best works are on the streets of Barcelona. He does not have a favorite place in Barcelona but he said he likes Las Ramblas a lot. He said "you can enjoy smiling of a lot of crazy people walking on this street, and you have beer 24 hours.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Street Art:The Spray Files, HarperCollins, 2004
  2. ↑ http://bcnstyle.ekosystem.org/pez-interview/

Further reading

Filmography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.