74 illustrators portray Barcelona in the exhibition of the covers of

If they think of Barcelona, ​​some will think of Las Ramblas packed with tourists or the unmistakable grid of the Eixample, while others will imagine having a vermouth in a square in Gràcia.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 June 2022 Wednesday 22:19
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74 illustrators portray Barcelona in the exhibition of the covers of

If they think of Barcelona, ​​some will think of Las Ramblas packed with tourists or the unmistakable grid of the Eixample, while others will imagine having a vermouth in a square in Gràcia. Some may think of panot de flor, Gaudí's trencadís, Botero's Cat or Mariscal's shrimp. Others will associate the name of the Catalan capital with the walks of their childhood, the bench where they used to sit with their friends as a teenager or even with their own home, which in the best of cases will have hydraulic mosaics. This is the premise that the illustrator Luisa Vera, from Alicante but resident in Barcelona for more than 20 years, gives to all those artists who want to be part of The Barcelonian. Draw your Barcelona.

The Barcelonian is an imaginary magazine that is inspired by the North American The New Yorker, known for its legendary covers. Thus, its Barcelona version consists of a collective project for which multiple illustrators have designed its cover. Born during confinement, the initiative already has more than 140 works. Now, a selection of 76 of them are on display at the L'Illa Diagonal shopping center in an exhibition that will remain open until this Saturday, June 4.

Luisa Vera, during the time she worked and lived in New York, was a faithful reader of The New Yorker. The days of her confinement, in March 2020, inspired her to draw covers similar to this publication, but in this case based on Barcelona. "I started sharing them on networks as if it were a confinement diary," she explains. Later, she thought it would be "much more interesting" if other illustrators she knew at the time also came up with her covers. "I proposed it to some friends and they loved the idea," Vera recalls.

Together they created "like a visual narration of the days we were locked up" on the Instagram profile @thebarcelonianillustrated, which today has more than 15,000 followers. But The Barcelonian didn't end when we were allowed to go outside. "It was a project that was still alive, we couldn't close it," declares the illustrator.

Thus, this imaginary magazine continues to expand its collection of covers week after week. Vera believes that the key to the fact that so many artists have been encouraged to collaborate, and that there is now even a "waiting list" to share their cover, is that "they have a cover and they say: we are going to do what we really want to do, that shows our Barcelona experience".

Some of the artists who have been encouraged to share "what Barcelona transmits to them" are Marcos Isamat, Sonia Pulido, Riki Blanco, Philip Stanton, Andreu Buenafuente or the recently deceased Miguel Gallardo. Although not all of them are from Barcelona, ​​they are united by their connection with the city.

The creative freedom that characterizes The Barcelonian is also transferred to those who sign it. "If the work is good, it doesn't matter who does it," says Luisa Vera. Thus, the project has managed to bring together a cast of illustrators of very varied ages and backgrounds, since "there are from veterans to students." Its promoter also wanted to collect the entire artistic range of illustration, including comics, murals, graphic design or children's illustration, "often undervalued by the public".

The idea for the exhibition arose when Luisa Vera teamed up with Inés García-Albi, director of the artistic entity Factoría Cultural Martínez. L'Illa Diagonal invited them to exhibit a selection of works from the initiative. For García-Albi, the shopping center "is like another street in the city." "It is a diverse, multicultural, creative space, just like The Barcelonian", underlines the cultural manager.

In September, the publication will cease to be imaginary because, in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council, a book will be published that includes all the covers. This volume will be dedicated to Miguel Gallardo. Vera and García-Albi also dream of carrying out an exhibition where all the illustrations have a place and, in addition, that it be itinerant to be able to export these prints from Barcelona. Thus, the Catalan capital catches up with other cities that already have their The Parisianer, The Milaneser, The Montrealer or The Tōkyōiter.

Strolling among the covers of The Barcelonian exhibited in the shopping center is like contemplating the evolution of the city in the last two years. While some illustrators portray life on the balconies during confinement or the birds taking to the streets, others draw the first outings with a mask. Later, the participants show a more festive Barcelona, ​​with crowds in the markets, squares and avenues. There is also no lack of intimate and nostalgic scenes, evictions or closed premises, as well as those representations of a city taken over by aliens.