The illustrator launches the 'OMG! Watch your step' project and fills the store's stairs with color
At OMG BCN, we love things happening, dynamism, originality, and fluid dialogue with artists. This is how the OMG! Watch your step project was born, transforming the store's staircase into a small gallery. We inaugurated this space with Lorena Eloizaga, an artist known for her vibrant colors and abstract landscapes, and took the opportunity to talk to her about major projects, her influences, and the journey she's taken to develop her own unique style.
It's impossible not to start by thanking you for the mural you've displayed on the stairs of our store, in full color, very Eloizaga.
In April, we started talking about the collaboration, about using the stairwell space to liven it up and do something different that would generate interaction with customers. You can sit on the stairs and take selfies. It's a lot of fun. The colors and my style are very summery, and we chose this piece that has pinks, blues, yellows, oranges… In my works , I represent nature, but it's a subjective view, my interpretation. I like to work creating abstract forms from nature.
You introduce yourself as a Colombian artist living in Barcelona, although you have training as an illustrator, in industrial and interior design. Which discipline do you prefer?
I say I'm an artist to encompass everything. Illustration is what I enjoy most because I can create my own magical worlds, but interior design and industrial design give me the knowledge to create a product. When you study art or become interested in design, you explore various disciplines and have to figure out which one you like best, as well as do everything you can to develop a style. You have to experiment and experiment and experiment. Studying illustration in London brought together everything I had done previously, and without all that knowledge, my design work would have remained somewhat adrift. It's difficult to make a living from art, but when you develop the judgment to finish a product, you create what you want, giving it direction yourself, without leaving it in the hands of others.
What are your earliest artistic memories?
My father worked for Taschen, and I think that was an influence. Being around books, especially in Colombia, where you don't see that many art exhibitions, and having access to so many images, probably caught my attention. Then in school, I really enjoyed painting and always wanted to do murals, join nature groups. In high school, I asked my parents to let me take drawing classes, and I trained with Germán Rodríguez, learning about form, the object, the principles of painting, abstraction…
We've read you say that "color makes you happy." Is it the most defining element of your work?
For me, color is very much connected to memory. I started drawing more in London, and I think memories of growing up in Colombia, surrounded by the Andes, of the colors of the plants and fruits—so orange, so fuchsia—surfaced. When I create my artwork, the colors are very vibrant, and that's what makes me happy. An anecdote: I'm in love with the Mediterranean. At university in Colombia, we studied Monet, who painted the sea in pinkish tones. I used to say, "That can't be, the sea is blue." When I arrived in Barcelona and saw the sunsets, I discovered that the Mediterranean has this pink... Colors inspire me.
“There are projects with which you have a more emotional relationship, like the mural we painted at the La Mina high school.”
How do you approach illustration projects?
I've collaborated with different brands, and it might sound a bit cliché, but every project is interesting; it's like starting something new. Every time you do something different, a new door opens.
Tell us about the mural project you carried out at the Institut Escola La Mina, The Dance of the Courtyard.
Aside from commercial projects, there are projects with which you have a more emotional connection, projects that make you feel more attuned to your heart, like when a school—through the El Generador association—contacts you and says they'd like to collaborate on a mural in the playground. I loved it: the space was gray, completely bare. We have this idea in our minds that La Mina is a troubled neighborhood, with all sorts of issues, and the children were incredible. They were so excited to paint! We started with one long wall, 15 meters. Then we decided to do the one next to it, and another. We painted three walls in total! [The project took place between 2019 and 2020]. It turned out very peaceful, very calm. It's fascinating that the children have the opportunity to grow up surrounded by color. Now it serves as a backdrop for group photos.
Experience shows the importance of stimulating creativity as we grow up. Do you agree?
Yes, color is one of the psychological tools that helps young people develop their creativity. When I was 20, I started reconnecting with the 14-year-old Lorena. As you grow up, you adapt to being an adult and leave behind things you wanted to do as a child. When you reconnect with creativity and the desire to dream, even as an adult, it's wonderful. And if you can share that with young people, it's even more rewarding.
Are there any artists with whom you have a special connection?
What I love about Matisse is his simple way of using color. I also like David Hockney's use of color, which also incorporates a lot of nature. I went to see the exhibition dedicated to him in London in 2012, and his tablet work made me feel confident working digitally myself. Georgia O'Keeffe is also important: I had one of her books when I was little. And Picasso. My grandfather is Basque and my grandmother is Colombian. He fled the Spanish Civil War, emigrated by boat without knowing where he was going, and arrived in Colombia. In my grandparents' house, there was a 50 x 70 centimeter black and white reproduction of Guernica, and it frightened me a little when I was little. Without realizing it, I think that presence, and the fact that my grandfather showed where he was from and how he got there, has also influenced my style.
