New portrait: Piti Español, writer

I've repeated my friend Piti's portrait for the Barcelona Valors afegits project, because I often find it hard to be satisfied with the portraits I make of people closer to me. I like this one, even if he thinks he looks too serious. And he's right. When I think of his image I always imagine him laughing. He's an optimistic and nice guy. And a brilliant scriptwriter, a master of literary resources.

Piti Español has been writing scripts for TV shows and series since 1984, mainly for TV3 and TVE. He has also written TV films and film scripts (La vida de nadie, Otros días vendrán, Los Pelayos, Atraco! and Cerca de tu casa) and has published an autobiographical story, a book of short stories and some books about television and cinema. Manos quietas!, his first play, won the Ciutat d'Alzira Theatre Prize (2009) and was premiered in Catalan in Valencia. In Spanish, it has had a season in Madrid and has toured with different productions in the Dominican Republic, the USA and Mexico. He is also the author of Badalona, la mar d'històries, the musical show Un cau de mil secrets (with the musician Joan Vives) and the cantatas 50 milions de segons, Cantàvia and ... I no em venien a buscar! With the musician Albert Guinovart he has written the cantata Mobília for the choir Cantiga. For some years he was a television critic for Catalunya Ràdio and since 1995 he has been a professor of scriptwriting and dialogue at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.

Pati Nuñez, a new portrait for the "Barcelona valors afegits" project.

This morning I photographed Pati Nuñez at her studio in the Gràcia neighborhood. A space with a special light and stillness. Pati, besides being an excellent graphic designer, is my Chi Kung teacher, and I am very grateful for her helpful guidance.

Pati Nuñez started her activities in graphic design in 1979, opening her own design studio in 1985, merging in 1992 with "AD Associate Designers". In 1995 she created "Pati Núñez Associats", a company specialized in corporate image, product image and graphic communication campaigns. Throughout her career she has won 8 editions of the Laus Awards, created by the FAD. In 2006 she was awarded the National Design Prize, granted by the Catalan Government, for her innovative contribution to the design of corporate identities, product images and graphic communication campaigns over 20 years. In 2007 she won the National Design Award.

Pati Nuñez Associats

America Sanchez, new portrait.

Yesterday I spent a very pleasant time photographing America Sanchez in his studio in Vallvidrera, from where there is a magnificent view of Barcelona. We were reviewing bits and pieces of his huge graphic work and talking about old times and about friends that are no longer here.

America Sanchez (Buenos Aires, 29 May 1939) is an Argentinean photographer, illustrator, teacher and graphic designer based in Spain, winner of the National Design Award in 1992 and one of the most prestigious and influential graphic designers in this country.
Juan Carlos Perez adopted as his artistic name the real name of his mother, America Sanchez, of which he also feels he is the artistic heir. Self-taught and influenced by his mother's artistic gifts, in the 1960s he was already working as a designer in Argentina, influenced by pop-art and learning typographic style from the so-called Swiss School, through the book The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems, by Josef Müller-Brockmann. His landing in Spain in 1965 brought him to Barcelona, where he has spent most of his prolific career, having worked for the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, La Caixa, the Barcelona City Council, the Liceo Theatre, Tricicle, the football Club Barcelona and a host of other important clients. Apart from his more creative side, he also teaches at the Eina School of Design and Art and at Seeway, Barcelona's School of Graphic Design, Animation, Digital Communication and Photography.
Always working from the pen, the brush, the charcoal, and other simpler drawing and writing materials, he is not a defender of digital tools as the maximum necessary for design or creation. He defends the bases of popular culture, and is open to all mixtures, giving great importance to the local cultural base, in addition to technique. From his facet as a photographer one can attribute to him a great documentary character and a source of inspiration for his design work.

Art collector and patron Antoni Vila Casas, for BVA project.

This morning I photographed Antoni Vila Casas in his impressive offices, located in a splendidly restored 1900s noble flat in Barcelona.
Antoni Vila i Casas is a businessman, promoter of the pharmaceutical industry and art patron. In 1986, he founded the Fundació Vila Casas , which has three museums (painting, sculpture and photography) in Catalonia. The Vila Casas collection is a fundamental reference for today’s catalan contemporary art.

Visual artist Martina Rogers, for "Barcelona valors afegits".

I’ve been shooting the portrait of visual artist Martina Rogers, at her atelier in the Barcelona neighborhood of Camp de l’Harpa.
Martina is a young visual artist, with a degree in Audiovisual Communication at the Barcelona University. Her fascination with the visual arts combined with her training in audiovisual language has allowed her to integrate techniques such as drawing, painting, ceramics or collage within the cinema. Playing and experimentation are the basis of her creative processes. Some of her films have been selected at various film festivals such as L'Alternativa Barcelona Independent Film Festival (Barcelona), Women's Film Festival (Barcelona), Aguilar Film Fest (Aguilar del Campóo), Animac International Animation Exhibition of Catalonia (Lleida) or projected in some cultural centers like Tabakalera. (San Sebastián) or the CCCB (the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona).
She has recently co-founded her own creative space for ceramics and other artistic disciplines in Barcelona, ​​"Les Mans" where she develops her creations, teaches ceramics and animation and shares the space with other creators.

"Barcelona, valors afegits": graphic designer Enric Jardí

A new portrait for the “Barcelona added values” project.
Enric Jardí is a well known graphic designer based in Barcelona. Enric’s work has focused on magazine and publication design and art direction, book covers, corporate identity, typography and illustration. His clients have included numerous local and global organizations and a selection of international and national companies.

enricjardi.com

New portrait for "Barcelona, valors afegits": Carmen Galofré

I’ve spent a nice morning shooting Carmen Galofré at her studio in Cabrera de Mar (Barcelona).
Born in Minnesota, Carmen graduated in Fine Arts in Barcelona University. She has exhibited her paintings and drawings in different cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, London, Girona, Andorra, San Sebastián and Ibiza.
With a sincere and personal style, her paintings reflect with astonishing fidelity the atmospheres of interiors, the spaces that light creates between objects, and the special chromatism of landscapes or human bodies.

Pedro López, added value in printing quality

My new portrait for the project “Barcelona, valors afegits”. Printer Pedro López is a rare example of the modern artisan. A demanding professional who loves his work and reveals it in the affection he treats every job that runs through his hands.
Nova Era Barcelona, his company since 1992, has become a quality benchmark for designers, photographers and artists who demand a higher level of printing.

Pep Àvila, photographed photographer: One more portrait for BCN·VA project

My friend Pep Àvila is a versatile photographer who has been working in advertising, fashion, travel and documentary photography for over 20 years. In his professional commissions, he pays special attention to the conceptualization of the particular atmospheres required for each project, achieving scenes with a distinctive magical touch. He has a special gift for directing models and supervising every stage of a production.

By pushing artificial lighting to its limits, his works often convey the sense that they lie at the boundary between reality and fiction and are imbued with a certain cinematographic mystique. 

This is perhaps unsurprising, as he is keen to explore the world of film and draws inspiration from it. Pep joins an important tradition of photographers that find a welcomed balance in film direction to their already successful stills career. His proven skills for creating atmosphere with lighting, casting, location, wardrobe and make-up, and his resourcefulness in directing actors, will also be put to use for his intrinsic need of telling stories.

He has received several awards in prestigious festivals around the world such as Cannes, Epica, Art Directors Club of Europe, SOL, LUX, Círculo Creativo, among others. And also many times Luerzer’s Archive magazine included his pictures. A keen and dedicated traveller, he has taken part in a number of humanitarian projects, collaborations with foundations to which he has donated his work in order to ensure they have quality images.

pepavila.com

Vallès, the one and only. One more portrait for "Barcelona, valoRs afegits"

Survivor of the battles of the end of the Franco regime and the transition to democracy, Josep Maria Vallès is one of the artists who brought a breath of healthy air to the humorous scene in Spain, together with Ja, Oscar, Ivà and others.

Vallès began to publish in the early 60s in magazines like Garbo and Matarratos. Later he collaborated in the Madrid magazine Hermano Lobo and in Barcelona in legendary titles like Por Favor, Muchas Gracias, El Papus, magazines that underwent the harassment of the Franco regime through fines, censors , kidnappings or suspensions. He has also published in Bésame mucho, Europa Viva, El Víbora, TMEO, Makoki among others.

He has also taken on several professional keys and has been a cinematographic producer, an animation film maker and also a screenwriter for several television shows.