(Terrassa, 84 years old) explains that he has more work than ever, just as he celebrates 40 years of his most utopian work, Honeymoon Projectwhich he will explain in a five-volume collection entitled Honeymoon Updates. On Friday he presented the first, Monuments in Love / Love Lettersedited by Terranova, FoodCultura and Senda with design by Bendita Gloria, with a party in Sala Apolo. In addition, the ephemeris will also arrive at the Arco fair in Madrid, with the help of Carles Senda, who will exhibit Eternity Ring and other pieces of a magical love story that culminated in the wedding between the Statue of Liberty and that of Columbus.
The work lasted from 1986 to 1992 and spread to twenty cities, but it was born in the International Tapas Bar in New York, which already had the crown of Liberty on its facade. It was a place underground which he shared with , his companion in many areas, who died ten months ago.
Ask. Montse’s absence must be very present, how is she?
Response. Living spaces are the ones that are missed the most, especially when you don’t stop working, like us. But since there are always energies, things go on. I have more work than ever.
P. He lived in New York and Miami for years…how does he look at all that is happening there?
R. I am very politicized, of course. I look forward to the news. I’m interested, and I’m working on a project of the papers… but now we don’t mix things up. I have done many works and many have to do with control, violence…
P. still hold?
R. We have left the file we had there.
P. It is installed here. Is it less nomadic?
R. Maybe the word is real, but I wouldn’t tell you. Now I’ll be back in Miami to present a book we made as a result of the 2018 action The Maggic Banquetwhich is based on Maggi.
P. Could their performances now be held in the United States?
R. Now I’m out, I don’t have the space. I feel like it’s a moment that if I was there I’d be so stimulated I wouldn’t stop.
P. Not here either. On Friday he held a celebration at the Apolo and on Saturday at the Miró.
R. Yes, we were presenting the book Love lettersa collection of about 300 letters from Honeymoon. It was a call from Montse from the television show One, two, three. We received 3,000 at Carrer Paradís, 4. We were asking people to send love letters to the Statue of Liberty for the artistic project of an impossible romance between her and Columbus.
P. How is the idea of getting them married going to happen?
R. The first motivation was to create a project that connected the place where I came from with the city where I lived. I have always been interested in monuments. I made a series about these vestiges, , which is in the Reina Sofia Museum. The idea was to humanize them. The two statues are on the same parallel and are also pointing at each other. It made sense to me. Freedom and conquest.
P. Is it the longest project you’ve done?
R. Yes, it’s six years. And two or three years ago I already started it. And as you can see, it’s not over… Now we present Honeymoon Updatesis a review. It is a way of showing how it was done, at what historical moment and what the guts of that wedding are like.
P. He did of wedding planner?
R. Yes, as in wedding planner I foresaw many things at the time. There were many projects, some were not realized.
P. Which were the most representative?
R. Many, but for example the ajovar. Basically the stockings and the face, which were exhibited at the Miró Foundation with the love letters. To connect it with the place where I come from, they were made in Terrassa, with seamstresses from there. All projects were open to participation.
P. What ceremonies make him happiest?
R. View a large shared table. Food connects and stimulates dialogue. This is not easy, neither because of the rhythms we follow nor because of the spaces or interests, except when there is someone behind businessand I’m not interested. That is why I have always tried to create banquet situations, as a ritual and exchange element.
P. Are there any pending?
R. There’s one that didn’t get done, and I’m sorry. We were to celebrate a banquet on the wings of an Iberia plane. The company was already involved and everything. It had to be done at the airport, the wings were transformed and it represented the exchange of food from the new world and the old world. It’s a project that was very advanced and due to changes in the company… These projects have a scale that doesn’t always work out. For me, those that have not been done, and that I call unprojectsare also part of reality. All of this will come out in the second book. It is a project so long and with so many layers that we have decided to explain it in five volumes. Honeymoon it cannot be summed up as “an artist who houses monuments”, there is an intention to humanize two icons. The second will be dedicated to monuments, with the commitment ceremony that took place in New York with Mayor Ed Koch. The third in gifts, such as the axovar or the engagement ring, which was made by jewelers in Birmingham.
P. The world looks very different now.
R. It is a very interesting time to talk about this project. It may look naïve even, but it can stimulate dialogue, talk about what happened. How is it that such a democratic, interesting and generous country has come to this degeneration. I have not seen a more generous country than the United States.
P. In what sense?
R. At all levels. The structure, the people, the very integrated mix of different backgrounds. This message of cultures and this breadth that has allowed everyone to find their place. It’s a magnificent country that’s screwed up. This civil war has been created, which is not a war, but a political situation and a tremendous division. Fortunately, there are groups that say enough is enough. But, of course, the situation is so violent that it is very complicated and it is spreading. Because that’s precisely what the right wing is, racism, and racism is being integrated and entering a large part of the youth of this world.
P. In all this conflict there is also a part of business, and he said that he is not interested at all.
R. Yes, I’m not interested in the business within art, I meant. But the business is creating filters, barriers, the possibility of working in the public and exchange space is disappearing. It’s just one idea, one way of looking at it, pure and hard fascism. I think it will take a long time for freedom to return. It will cost, it’s generations. That is why it is important that it does not remain as a conflict, it is a global situation, which is spreading and we are experiencing it here and everywhere.
P. Does the moment scare you?
R. Yes, it’s a scary time. I’m afraid to go back. My anthropologist friend who is in Chicago is afraid, the person who was helping me is afraid… An instability has been created because of this system of violence.
P. Do you have many relationships with people there?
R. Even projects that have not been talked about. Not knowing what will happen and the daily presence of violent actions, which is tremendous. It was impossible to think that this could happen and the way it is happening. Any day now, a triumphal arch bigger than any other will be built in the middle of Washington. That an institution like the White House is transformed or destroyed… These are exhilarating moments, it’s incredible, how interesting and how dramatic. Concepts are mixed.
P. In Trump’s first term, could this drift have been imagined?
R. no Almost no one could imagine it. He has created this platform, so connected, he put the judges on it, he prepared everything very well. But I’m an artist, I can’t say much more. From the beginning, my work has a very political and critical attitude.
P. Do you think people get it?
R. It is probably lucky that it is not fully understood, because that way it can arouse more interest. It’s complicated. But we are used to very direct readings. When I started with the soldiers I made them white, I removed patriotic symbolism from them. I have always been interested in creating a dialogue.
P. Seen in perspective, his work has a lot of coherence and meaning. Do you feel that way?
R. yes I greatly respect what is said about my work, but it is a shame that certain things have not been explained or taught enough for this connection to be understood. Finally everything connects. There is always a visual appearance, which I was very interested in. From the beginning there are methods that are connected, mixed with obsessions that appear and you find them again, and sometimes they have not been explained or appreciated.
P. Perhaps in his case a retrospective makes more sense than ever?
R. Yes, but at the same time it’s dangerous because retrospectives are always through a window, and they should also include guts. This is hard to explain. They do not teach such intimate and human processes, which many do not understand. They think they are jobs done over the phone, but they are not. It’s tests and tests until we find the color.
