the art of julio falagan
Who is Julio Falagan and what does he do in his free time?
I am a being from the planet Earth and I come in peace. I spend my free time in work, but not all the time, just now and then...
You work in a lot of different areas... blending iconography, mixed media, collage, sentences, words... yet you have built up a solid boy of work that is also coherent... Tell us how you work. Where does it all start?
The mixture comes when there i san intention to create something. There’s also a lot of freedom and a spark (the material I work with).
Do you sleeo well? Are you in treatment? Are you taking something?... How do pieces like ¨El interruptor cura¨ (The Priest Switch), ¨22 culos y 3 prepucios¨ (22 bums and a Foreskin), ¨The terrible heartpunching machine¨?
I am in the habit of taking medicine now and again, but seeing as I don’t know what my pains actually are, I am probably on the wrong track, and, well, my work is the result of all this. I would just like to take this opportunity to apologise to all the people who have suffered as a result of this work.
How did you found the holding company ¨Empresas Falagan¨?
It came about when I came to live in Lavapies in Madrid. I saw all these old shop signs on shops that had been closed. I was saddened at the sight of these icons which represented the wealth of a different age. The idea stayed with me for years, but the recent job and economic precariousness spark off the fuse and I set up this SME. An empire of failure. And the failure was huge. I am still director of this holding company today.
The reuse of objectives, recycling works of art... It seems like you like “rubbish art”...
So you’re calling me Diogenes? Fuck, yeah, I’m a gatherer. It’s inevitable, when I am walking down a street, so much stuff just keeps whispering “Help!” to me, and, you know, finally, I end up in my workshop, like Doctor Frankenstein in his castle, making new life happen by mixing different things together.
Along with the characteristics of coherence and convergence that we have already mentioned, other very important traits present in your work are humour and irony. Why is the world of art so serious and “transcendental”? Why is humour marginalised?
That is exactly one of the biggest problems I have come across. At times, when I try to express my ideas through playful and humorous methods, I find it difficult to get the work taken seriously by some. It’s much easier to be serious and formal, that’s why there’s not too much humour in the world of art. For me, humor is a lubricant that enables the concepts to get to those deep hidden places. They are truths that help you laugh at yourself even though they are frequently not funny.
In our opinion, the way you exhibit your work is also special. Is the concept of exhibition also changing?
I do not see myself as being special in any way, and being original is not one of my objectives. I would say personal. I try not to impose any limits on myself when I am trying to express a message, and I try to be as truthful and personal as I possibly can. I haven’t really reflected on the changing concept of exhibiting art. I think that the final outcomes aren’t what you normally envisage them as at the start. Change and development are a part of life. If you work, changes will occur in that work in a logical fashion.
I am a being from the planet Earth and I come in peace. I spend my free time in work, but not all the time, just now and then...
You work in a lot of different areas... blending iconography, mixed media, collage, sentences, words... yet you have built up a solid boy of work that is also coherent... Tell us how you work. Where does it all start?
The mixture comes when there i san intention to create something. There’s also a lot of freedom and a spark (the material I work with).
Do you sleeo well? Are you in treatment? Are you taking something?... How do pieces like ¨El interruptor cura¨ (The Priest Switch), ¨22 culos y 3 prepucios¨ (22 bums and a Foreskin), ¨The terrible heartpunching machine¨?
I am in the habit of taking medicine now and again, but seeing as I don’t know what my pains actually are, I am probably on the wrong track, and, well, my work is the result of all this. I would just like to take this opportunity to apologise to all the people who have suffered as a result of this work.
How did you found the holding company ¨Empresas Falagan¨?
It came about when I came to live in Lavapies in Madrid. I saw all these old shop signs on shops that had been closed. I was saddened at the sight of these icons which represented the wealth of a different age. The idea stayed with me for years, but the recent job and economic precariousness spark off the fuse and I set up this SME. An empire of failure. And the failure was huge. I am still director of this holding company today.
The reuse of objectives, recycling works of art... It seems like you like “rubbish art”...
So you’re calling me Diogenes? Fuck, yeah, I’m a gatherer. It’s inevitable, when I am walking down a street, so much stuff just keeps whispering “Help!” to me, and, you know, finally, I end up in my workshop, like Doctor Frankenstein in his castle, making new life happen by mixing different things together.
Along with the characteristics of coherence and convergence that we have already mentioned, other very important traits present in your work are humour and irony. Why is the world of art so serious and “transcendental”? Why is humour marginalised?
That is exactly one of the biggest problems I have come across. At times, when I try to express my ideas through playful and humorous methods, I find it difficult to get the work taken seriously by some. It’s much easier to be serious and formal, that’s why there’s not too much humour in the world of art. For me, humor is a lubricant that enables the concepts to get to those deep hidden places. They are truths that help you laugh at yourself even though they are frequently not funny.
In our opinion, the way you exhibit your work is also special. Is the concept of exhibition also changing?
I do not see myself as being special in any way, and being original is not one of my objectives. I would say personal. I try not to impose any limits on myself when I am trying to express a message, and I try to be as truthful and personal as I possibly can. I haven’t really reflected on the changing concept of exhibiting art. I think that the final outcomes aren’t what you normally envisage them as at the start. Change and development are a part of life. If you work, changes will occur in that work in a logical fashion.
