Behind the Wall: interview to Miguelito

Miguelito: "I've always had a love of outline and colour" 

The Australian artist who paints Valencia's walls as a 1940's abstract expressionist would do!

Milena: - Graffiti or Urban Intervention?
Miguelito: - Both. Depends on opinion of definition.

Spray or stickers?

Brush


Night or day?

I normally paint in the daylight
 

Colors or B&W?

Colour
 

Walls or blinds?

Walls  

For the community or for the Name?
Both

 

Milena: - Who is Miguelito?

Miguelito: Australian artist from Melbourne, living in Valencia.

M.- When does the work of Miguelito appear for the first time on the streets?
Miguelito: My first work on the street appeared in October 2016, Valencia.

M. - Do you belong to any crew?

Miguelito:  No

M. - Is there any academic background behind your work?

Miguelito: Yes. I studied painting and drawing for five years in Melbourne.

M. - How does your style evolved during the years of activity?

Miguelito: Over the past 20 years I´ve studied and experimented with many styles of painting and drawing. But I've always had a love for shape and abstraction.....(Even as a young child)

M. - Where and how do you like to paint?

Miguelito: At the moment I'm loving painting in the streets with brushes and wall paint. The opportunity to paint larger scale paintings is more easily available than in a studio.

M. - Which kind of paint do you prefer to use?

Miguelito: In the street....wall paint.

But I love to paint with oil paint the most.

M. - Did you ever collaborate with other street artists?

Miguelito: I share a studio with Valencia urban artists: Barbi, Sr Marmota and Metal Ink- Barbi and I have collaborated on maybe 4 or 5 walls together here in Valencia. I have also painted with Atila from London, while he was living in Valencia, and Spanish street artists Xolaka and Dafne Tree. 

M. - Did you influence each other?

Miguelito: There are 7 of us in our studio space, so it's impossible not to be influenced by each other's work.

M. - How do you like to paint? Alone or accompanied?

Miguelito: Normally alone.

M. - How do you choose the surface (texture) to perform on?

Miguelito: First I look for the best position. I also try not to paint over anything that is less than one year old. Also, because I use brush, the smoother the surface, the better.

Miguelito, Barbi and Xolaka on the same wall

M. - Do your works have a social and / or political aim?

Miguelito: Street art is always political in a way.  It's an artist saying that his/her work is good enough, or has a right to be on the street. However the streets are for the people, and peoples opinions vary.

M. - Do you think the illegality is an essential feature of the Graffiti Art, as well as the Urban Art intervention?

Miguelito: I think that the culture is changing. But the ilegality will always be part of it's identity. Peopple have been illegally, and legally painting in public spaces for thousands of years.

M. - Do you think is a sort of paradox, being a street artist, to take the works from the city walls to an exhibition hall?

Miguelito: No. Artists can choose to exhibit wherever they choose.

At the age of forty years old, I took my art from the gallery and studio to the street. 

M. -The commercialization of street art can be seen as the natural evolution of this artistic movement or more as the loss of its own intrinsic values?

Miguelito: Street art is just a form of art. If by using the term 'commercialisation' means that the artist is becoming exposed to a broader audience, becoming more popular and maybe making some money too, then I think it's a great thing.

I would not have been able to study many of the artists that influenced me in life if their art hadn't reached commercial fame.

M. - If you had to define your own style, what could you say to be the identifying marks of your work?

Miguelito: It really comes directly from the 1940's abstract expressionists.

I've always had a love of outline and colour.