"poblenou" lottery

to celebrate my last book "poblenou. atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial", it's time for the traditional "lapin-lottery"!
louise will pick up 3 names from the comments of this post, to win a dedicate copy. 
you have until sunday 25th of novembre at midnight, barcelona hour, to get a chance to win.
and the winners are enno, debb campbell & murillo s romeiro!

« Poblenou. atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial »
hard cover, 92 pages, 210 x 160 mm, 15.00 €
published by "Ajuntament de Barcelona

poblenou open night signature

I will sign my book of poblenou this friday night from 20:00 to 22:00 at brutus de gaper during the "poblenou open night" organized by poblenou urban district. see ya!

"poblenou. atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial" published by ajuntament de barcelona, 92 pages, 210 x 160 mm, 15.00 €.

book launch "poblenou"

exposición y presentación del libro "Poblenou. Atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial" publicado por el Ajuntament de Barcelona en presencia del autor Lapin y de Jorge Carrión:
jueves 25 de octubre a partir de las 19:00.
Can Picó, calle de Pere IV, 58, metro Bogatell


The book I was working on during the last 3 years is finally ready!
I started documenting the gentrification affecting my Barcelona neighborhood, as old factories are replaced by hotels and office buildings.
The pages of my sketchbook have become a record of change, as the old is bulldozed in the name of progress. This is my testimony to keep in mind what made Poblenou special to me.

You are all invited for the book launch and exhibition on Thursday 25th of October at 19:00 in Can Picó, calle de Pere IV, 58 in Barcelona.

« Poblenou. atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial »
hard cover, 92 pages, 210 x 160 mm, 15.00 €
published by "Ajuntament de Barcelona"

lost poblenou update!

before the launching of my book "poblenou. atlas ilustrado de un barrio industrial" in fall 2018, here is a selection of my last sketches of poblenou.
the district keep changing and I archive the industrial patrimony before it disappears…

"alibaba and the 40 thieves" video

my contribution to the serie "dibuixacontes" for the catalan tv channel betevé:

joon travel books

update on my website!

joon is a new french airline based at paris’ charles de gaulle airport.
joon is offering the new generation travel experience by air france.
for its inaugural flights on the 1st of december, I was commissioned to create this special collection of travel books of joon’s first destinations: berlin, barcelona, lisboa and paris.
during the summer of 2017, I spent one week in each of this cities to catch in my sketchbook the special mood of this 4 major towns. the result is this luxury limited edition collection as a gift for the travelers to enjoy the best experience at destination.

arte - cities by the sea - barcelona!

cities by the sea - barcelona will broadcast on the german/french TV channel arte on friday 17th of november at 18:30.
they followed me during one day while sketching along the sea front.
you can already check the teaser:

old stuff / new sketches

"españa esta de moda"

I'm witnessing the major crisis of the politic confrontation between catalunya and the spanish government for the last ten years, since I'm living in barcelona. on sunday is organized the unilateral referendum by the catalan government to vote the independence of catalunya. the referendum is prohibited by the central government, and the tensions are at their maximum after the arrestation of a dozen of catalan politiciens and the massive arrival of policemen in catalunya to prevent the election. catalans citizens are still planing to vote and nobody knows what will happen in the following days…

so, who is the genius that decided that it was the good timing to buy some advertising spaces for this clothes brand? is that on purpose as the policeman I sketched in front of it on the rambla told me?
while sketching it on the plaça catalunya, the people looked at the poster as if it was a bad joke or a provocation.

if "spain is fashionable" somewhere, it's definitly not in plaça catalunya this days.

lost poblenou

last minute information!
I will talk about my project “lost poblenou – l’arxiu il·lustrat d’un barri en reformes” tomorrow morning, at 11h30 at can ricart (c/ del marroc, 16, 08005, barcelona) during the celebration of the funding of our association urban sketchers barcelona.
you're welcome to sketch with us all day long!!

and the winners are…

during our holidays in france, we have 2 louises in spite of one. my louise picked up the names of the 3 winners of the barcelona postcards set while her friend louise picked up the name of the 3 winners of the paris postcards set.
and the winners of the "lapin-lottery" are: donna stewart, zanna archontaki, deni may, katrina, sonia simone and postalorphan. congratulations!
please send me your address by email I will send it to you asap.

"postcards" lottery

to celebrate my new postcards packs: a selection of 20 illustrations of the greatest landmarks of my 2 favorite cities and extract from my recent books "barcelona original" and "paris je t’aime", it's time for the traditional "lapin-lottery"!
louise will pick up 6 names from the comments of this post, to win a copy.
you have until wednesday 12th of july at midnight, barcelona hour, to get a chance to win.
let's play!

and the winners of the "lapin-lottery" are: donna stewart, zanna archontaki, deni may, katrina, sonia simone and postalorphan. congratulations!
please send me your address by email I will send it to you asap.
 

feliz sant jordi 2017!

I will sign some of my books in barcelona on sunday during sant jordi.
I will join some friends in front of casa piera, c. pintor fortuny 21, and at 19:00 on passeig de gracia 31, signing my book "cuaderno de cuba" published by malpaso.


feliz sant jordi!

"space oddities" workshop in poblenou, barcelona

how can I describe this past 5 days with such a great group of sketchers from all around europe?

first of all, thank you very much to isabel and swasky who invited me to teach with them in my neighborhood, poblenou. we definitely pushed our sketching boundaries curving the space to fit 180º to 360º scenes in our sketchbooks. we also invited the participant to focus on some quotidian subjects in spite of the many monuments of barcelona, showing the transition that is happening here, also called gentrification.
I especially appreciate to get time to speak with every participant, and to get 2 workshop cessions with each in small groups of 8 to 10 sketchers, that allow me to go further in the explanation of some complicated representation as cylindrical and spherical perspective.

following are some of this special moments we shared together:









congratulation to each of you, you made a terrific job.
see you soon again, and until than keep sketching!!

lost poblenou - update

I keep sketching my neighborhood "poblenou" in barcelona to keep an archive of old factories and shops that are disappearing "poc a poc".
you will learn more about my "lost poblenou" project in the spanish newspaper "el periódico" or on spanish radio "cadena ser".

lost poblenou

I live in barcelona for 10 years now, after living the first months in the barceloneta district, I moved to poblenou to escape the crowd of tourists. I immediately felt at home in this old industrial area, a mix of factories, small modernist houses, graffiti, families on the rambla de poblenou and workers. it was a forgotten place in barcelona, far away from the touristic itinerary.
then, I saw the construction of 22@, a modern trade center, offices, universities and art foundations together. some chimneys and bricks buildings are cohabiting with skyscrapers. it’s fine to me, a normal expansion to bring modernity to barcelona, but the mood of the district was changing already.
so more and more creative people were moving here as poblenou became « trendy ».
meanwhile lots of huge hotels are built from scratch in the place of old façades in small streets that had the patina of past decades. and many more hotels are under construction…
this is a big trauma. I don’t recognize anymore some blocs, the rambla de poblenou is not familiar anymore, and the menu of the day in some trendy new restaurants is « paella and sangria » which get nothing to do with barcelona, but a cliché for the increasing number of tourists.
there are still plenty of great places in the neighborhood as poblenou is a vast district.
it will take a few more years to change the entire area, but on the way to the flea market this morning, I mind that some more houses, bars and workshops had disappear…
So I feel the urgency to archive in my sketchbooks this poblenou that disappears.
I know that the battle is not fair, I can only sketch to fight the gentrification, but I need it to keep in mind what made poblenou special to me.