Can the picture of a breakfast be emotional, evoking, for instance, childhood recollections? Though social media appears to replicate the other, many individuals most likely discover it simpler to establish with a half-eaten packet of biscuits and a glass of Cola-cao with lumps on a white counter with a couple of stains, than with a toast with salmon, avocado and poached egg or with an açaí bowl, immortalized in an immaculate setting. The latter abound in universes comparable to these of Instagram and TikTok. The primary picture, nevertheless, is definitely the one that’s really discovered most incessantly in houses, the primary chew of the day for a lot of. That’s the reason Pepe Baena Nieto (Cádiz, 45 years previous) explains the success of his work, particularly the oil work devoted to breakfasts. “It reminds folks of their life, of their grandparents, of once they have been little,” he says on the opposite finish of the cellphone. Minutes later, he desires to go to Las Flores for fried fish for a restaurant.
Baena is a late painter and doesn’t even intend to make a residing from a passion that he took up on the age of 31, after the start of his first youngster. He’s really a cameraman and video editor for the Provincial Council of Cadiz – a job that, he says, makes him comfortable – however some afternoons and weekends he locks himself away in his studio to seize part of the fact that surrounds him. “I paint my life, my world. I’ve three young children and plenty of are household scenes.” From these personal moments come many of the breakfasts that he immortalizes and that right now are his most applauded collection of work. The primary of them, he remembers, was a espresso with churros. “I used to be having breakfast within the sq., I took a photograph and painted it.”
After that, there got here the one with the open packet of biscuits with Cola-Cao, the one with the Pink Panther bun, the one with the Donuts or the one with the Inés Rosales cake, all the time with that contact of actuality that characterises her work, like splashes of espresso or crumbs scattered on the counter. At all times with the white tiles of her kitchen within the background. “The primary one I made with Inés Rosales truffles was purchased by the manufacturing unit,” she says. Her works are bought primarily by way of social networks, though some examples may also be present in galleries, for a value starting from 1,200 euros. They’re all distinctive.
The artist Pepe Baena in his studio in Cadiz, subsequent to 2 of his works. PACO PUENTES
“Thanks a lot for taking me again to my childhood,” “I’m in mattress and I simply bought as much as put together the identical factor, it’s pure actuality,” “My complete life summed up. Chic,” are a number of the feedback that Baena’s followers —greater than 38,000— go away on his Instagram posts. In them, there are pictures of his breakfasts, however there’s additionally house for different scenes that should do with the day by day gastronomic lifetime of his land. There are nonetheless lifes of fried fish and a typical appetizer with beer, Franjose chips and breadsticks; there are pears in a plastic field, figs and virtually empty Cruzcampo bottles on a desk, surrounded by smoked cigarettes; there are moments shared across the desk, together with his kids, his spouse and different members of his household; and a composition with greens, greens and meat, provides for making stew. “Many occasions it occurs to me that I’m going on the lookout for inspiration and there are occasions that you simply go and also you don’t discover it. Others, nevertheless, seem by likelihood, and from there come the most effective work,” he says. He confesses to not having any attachment to his work, which he simply eliminates if somebody buys it, aside from a couple of canvases that his kids have stored.
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