Amor De Verano - El Recoleta

Amor de Verano argentina buenos aires Character design color El Recoleta Love Mural poster print

The Recoleta Cultural Centre is an exhibition and cultural events centre located in the barrio of Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It holds sculptures and exhibitions, as well as concerts and artistic presentations and workshops of diverse types. In 2018 El Recoleta started a summer festival that happens every year and is called "Amor de Verano". Every January new events, concerts, parties, lectures, art shows and more are organized for the public to go and enjoy for free cultural activities of excellence. I was called on that first 2018 festival to create the image of the Cultural Centre and this year I'm truly honored to work again with El Recoleta and their team for one last year of this marvelous celebration of art and culture.

For this year, we painted a mural covering the entire facade of the building, 60.000 copies were printed for a series of 4 posters based on the idea of a first kiss, pins with hearts in all colors and t shirts for the kids. For each part of this massive project I tried to create pieces that connect with love on young years. A naive version of it, look through tender eyes and a teenager heart.

El Recoleta works with younger audiences. Kids age 8 through 25 attend to parties and educational events during the week and these posters are thought with them in mind. This series of posters is designed to work as a group. It speaks to the sum of each individuality to represent a broad spectrum of gender, color, bodies and identities. Each character was imagined with a specific story behind and it tries to be representational of a diverse crowd.

This hand holding a heart was printed in hundreds of pins in an array of color combinations. All put on a bowl at the entrance of the Recoleta for you to pick one and take with you. The simplicity of the concept makes it universal and all encompassing. The idea to get across here is there is no one left outside. We are all different and we all love the same.

For the t shirt I had this graphical idea of two figures intertwined on a kiss. The colors are high in saturation and the structure of the drawing is puzzle-like so the viewer perceives it as one person unless pays a lot of attention. The overlapping figure plus the textile nature of the object adds to the dissaperance of a second person and the concept grows stronger when two become one.

I wrote a small text to organize my ideas about the mural: "El Beso mas Grande de Buenos Aires"

In this blue sky, sparkles and explosions filled the space, while two kids have their first kiss. Between the sky and the exploding stars, one could even say that the kids are almost floating. There is a whimsical element to the scene. These young kids give me a sense of tenderness that "Amor de Verano" always carries throughout all their Festivals. And this being the last festival, I wanted to say good bye with a bang! Argentina just won the world cup and this is a country that breaths futbol. These stars are fireworks. These colors are loud. This summer we are all young and in love.