For seven years now, the painter José Luis Frutos (Granada, 1959) has visited the Sant Joan de Déu (SJD) hospital in Esplugues de Llobregat every Wednesday afternoon. He hardly skips the quote from him. And you may wonder: maybe he has a relative working there and is coming to visit him; or perhaps he suffers from a pathology that requires weekly monitoring. Nothing of that. José Luis travels to this hospital center to entertain, as far as possible, the children who are admitted there. And how does he entertain them? He helps them get out the art they house.
It all started one day when he went to a hospital to visit the emergency room and coincided with a father and his son, who were also waiting to be treated. She observed that the adult seemed very worried and the child felt guilty for the suffering of his parent. And he thought: “Painting has to serve more than just hanging a picture.”
From there, he says, he started thinking about a project where children and family members could draw in the hospital. Once conceived, he presented it to the SJD, which welcomed it. Over time, he has perfected it until he now has a very defined protocol. The first thing he does is enter the child's room, of whom he already knows the name, age and pathology. “It is very important to know what they suffer from so as not to screw up,” he explains. “I can't say to a child, for example, who suffers from an eating disorder: 'Draw me your favorite food.'”
What he asks of both children and family members is that they put down on paper what they like most in the world and what they least like. “It is the child who decides if he wants the parents to draw too.”
Dressed in a painter's beret, bow tie and vest – “I make it a bit theatrical,” he confesses – he visits several rooms (up to 20) every Wednesday afternoon. “The minimum I am there is four hours, but many times I go earlier because it falls short.”
He emphasizes that this is an activity that takes time and in which rush is not worth it. “The volunteer lacks will,” he argues. “It's the children who matter, and you adapt to them, to what's happening in the room. You enter a private world and you have to go with exquisite care,” he adds.
The task of drawing what they like most in the world and what they least like from the beginning in all the rooms they will visit during the afternoon. “I'm sowing.” Then, he revisits each of them to see how the task evolves. He explains that, in some cases, when he observes that the patient or their family members “need more company,” he spends more time with them and makes a charcoal portrait of them (see the video that precedes this paragraph): “I draw them by drawing ”.
Visit children of all ages and pathologies. “I touch all the plants: infectious diseases, traumatology, oncology, neurology…” He says that in each room “a very beautiful atmosphere is created: the mind is somewhere else, it is not in pain, in worry.”
It ensures that there is a before and after carrying out the activity. “The children finish the session smiling. At first, I find some of them crying, but when I leave, once the task is finished, they are all laughing. That is pure gold. The real gold is there, and it is weightless.”
For the activity, use “quality” paper: “They have to see that they are doing something serious, that it is worthwhile.” The material, he explains, is provided by the hospital, “with all the love”: “The center behaves wonderfully.” Instead of using markers, he uses pencils. “Nuance is important. You see, in the line, where the drawer influences, what is marked and what is not.”
He points out that his scope is exclusively to entertain, that he does not intend to diagnose in the least – “I don't even want to go there,” he maintains – but he says that there are things that stand out in the drawings. For example, bullying. “Someone tells you that what they like least is recess, and something happens there.” He explains that, in those cases, he shows the parents what he believes he has detected, “in case they want to go deeper.”
He says that he has even designed a kind of emotional test to find out how they are before and after drawing. As seen in the image that follows, it is a string of faces (like emojis) where each one of them expresses an emotion. The children (also their parents) mark which ones best express their mood before and after the session. “Normally, they are better after they have drawn,” she says. “It is also a way – he continues – for them to rate me: I put myself to the test and I can see things that may fail in my interaction with them.”
With the simple act of entering the room, he argues, things happen. “Something is moving.” She assures that what is found there is very true. “No one lies, it is something high. They draw what they really think. It is pure art.”
José Luis spends four hours a week at the SJD. If he could, however, he would make that task his profession. “I would love to work there eight hours a day. What fills me is the hospital. They are the real teachers. I have painted a lot of work, but no painting comes close to the shoe height of a child's smile or a father's hug. Priceless".
He says he knows well what it is like to be unemployed. “I know unemployment well. “This painting thing is complicated.” He assures that he has worked in many things: “Giving painting classes, yes, but also as a warehouse boy, whatever.” He owned a graphic arts business for 11 years, and even a framing store. “Imagine, supplying the competition.” The problem, he argues, is that shortly after opening it the economic crisis of 2008 arrived “and it was very bad.”
The positive impact that contact with sick children has on him is such that he says that thanks to it he now has faith. “Before I didn't know what it was. Now, whatever happens, there is no fear.”
He also teaches classes to grandparents. She does it at the Espai de Gent Gran de l’Esquerra de l’Eixample. “I have been with both initiatives for seven years, I started everything at the same time. I have about 14 retired students painting with oil on the street. On Wednesday mornings I am with them, and in the afternoon with the children,” he concludes.
