EXPOSIDISTRITO has invited me from September to December 2022 to carry out an exhibition tour of the trompe l’oeil collection of El Atelier de Santi. In collaboration with the Bilbao City Council, the trompe l’oeil collection will tour six neighbourhoods in Bilbao through this exhibition programme;
ABANDO Municipal Centre 1-23 September
BEGOÑA 3-14 October
SAN FRANCISCO 18-28 October
CASTAÑOS 2-15 November
SAN IGNACIO-IBARREKOLANDA 17 November – 20 December
SANTUTXU 22 December – 11 January 2023.
This exhibition allows me to claim some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), related to the uses and customs of everyday life. This claim is recurrent in my blog, as for example in the publication “The ethnology in the trompe-loeil of The Santi’s Workshop”
Everyday life; from the countryside to the city
Trompe l’oeil “The muleteer’s wardrobe”
Sustainability and the circular economy, which is so much in vogue at the moment, takes us back to the way many artisans work. As well as the recycling of materials and resources to the maximum extent possible. In times gone by, not so long ago, raw materials were not only selected in advance, but were classified according to quality and according to their intended use. There was therefore a certain specialisation also in this aspect of material use. All these subtleties are lost in mass production. In many cases, an amalgam of the same raw material ends up being used for all kinds of categories. And that is if it is not replaced by a substitute that allows for greater competition on the selling price through its use in production.
Still life in the trompe l’oeil “Judias con chorizo” in Expodistrito
And it is not so much the renowned self-sufficiency in the rural world, but rational consumption, local trade and the circular economy that this exhibition is calling for. All this, which is so important for a balance with our environment, is being lost in favour of the opposite. Through the overcrowding of the urban world we are losing quality of life. We are exchanging tranquillity for urgency, freedom for security, neighbourliness for convenience, and so on. Many changes at the whim of an interest that in the long run seems to be alien to us.
Tribute exhibition
“The trompe l’oeil paintings in the collection of El Atelier de Santi represent corners of everyday life that the passage of time has obscured in the shadows of memory. But the light brings them back to colour, the breath of reality and life, thus paying homage to the simplicity and humility of the objects represented.
Trampantojo El colmado in Expodistrito
In Expodistrito this exhibition of the trompe l’oeil collection of El Atelier de Santi is especially aimed at those who have come from the countryside to the city. And it’s a tribute to the work of rural men and women, agriculture, small businesses, crafts and the life and leisure of the time.
This vintage and rustic art will surely bring back fond memories. And I hope it will serve as an encouragement and vindication of healthy country life”.