“there’s an animal in all of us” olatz artola
irudia
Though she has her roots in Tolosa, Pili Aguado (1981) lives in Valencia. She graduated in Fine Arts and has specialised in Graphic Arts. She is the creator of La Oruga de Celia and views illustration as a means of communication. She stresses that while drawings can accompany text, they also have the ability to communicate by themselves. She says that there is a little bit of herself in every illustration and that a piece of herself is transmitted to the viewer by these illustrations. she says, and she likes to create this allegorical world of hers by mixing the human and the animal.

We took a look at the definition of illustration and this one reads as following: “visual matter used to explain or clarify a text.” Is that what illustration is for you?

For me illustration is a way to communicate, with or without a text. While it often accompanies a text, on its own illustration is also a powerful communicator. It has the ability to tell a story. It can be found in many different fields in publicity, design, textile manufacturing… there are new ways of viewing and consuming illustration.

Does it help you understand your own feelings?

When I draw, there is always a little bit of me in each illustration, one way or another you are always transmitting a little of who you are, be it through your style, your pencil stroke…

Do you draw with that in mind or do you also draw with the aim of moving other people in some way?

Every illustration draws some reaction from the person viewing. I don’t believe that the most important thing is that people like my illustrations. Indeed, each individual illustration can transmit different things to different people, and that reaction is not in the artist’s hands.

So, do you draw for yourself or for others?

I draw for myself. To be honest, I don’t think about whether people will like the work or not. If, later on, my drawings have an emotional effect on anybody, well, I am very grateful for that, it really makes me happy.

You regularly use both humans and animals, you sometimes even mix them. Do you believe that there is more of the animal in humans than we think?

There is more of the animal in all of us than we really believe. I like to draw a different reality and different characters in an world. And so many shapes to create a single shape. So many elements.

Why is that?

Each drawing has its own process of development. Some are simpler and some are more complex depending on what happens during the creative process.

You sometimes use colour, yet your work is not colourful. Do you, on the other hand, see the world as a colourful place?

You’re right in that I don’t use much colour, I don’t really look at that element. I don’t think a colourful drawing is automatically more cheerful
than one that is not. You can transmit many things by using colour and by not using it. I don’t think my illustrations are very cheerful, they are more nostalgic. How I see the world depends on my day.


GKO

One of the aims of the GKO Concept Store in Tolosa is to offer a work and exhibition space for creative people in the town and the surrounding area. Kizkitza and Garikoitz started with this project and we believe it is an essential endeavour because new creators need a space to work and exhibit what they are doing. As happens in pages of the balde, the idea is to showcase both established artists as well as new future talents.