INTERVIEW

How would you define the project that you undertook for TruckArtProject?
My work with TruckArtProject consisted of creating a drawing/painting that creates a dialogue with the place where it was made. When I put out an exhibition, I usually interiorize the exhibition space and create works that integrate into that space. In this case, the process was similar to my usual process.

In your case, how do the two sides of the truck work together?
The dialogue between the two sides of the truck depends on how the spectator sees them. Vehicles always circulate on the right in almost every country; so we see them differently depending on whether the viewer is on the sidewalk or if they pass it or cross it in their own vehicle.

What are the challenges of the project for you?
When I do this type of "urban" work, the challenge always lies in the materials that I use. I’m not an urban or graffiti artist, so using spray paint cans is always complicated for me.

How does this project fit into your trajectory and your discourse?
There is a wide range of possibilities in my work, so I look for the pieces that go best with the project. In cases like these, I make images that come from comic books or illustration, taking them to dimensions appropriate to the space I’m working in.

Some artists admit that they came in with a pre-existing idea that they had to modify, or that grew in other directions when faced with a canvas like this one. Was that the case for you?
My offering was decided on site in collaboration with the curator. I didn’t know the dimensions of the truck until I arrived at the place where the work was going to take place, so I didn’t decide anything until I was there.

How did you approach the reception of a work like this, in which the spectator comes across it instead of seeking it out, and which doesn’t “circulate” through the usual art channels?
The approach to a piece in motion lies in the fact that the spectator would only have a few seconds to see it while the truck passes. So the image always had to be simple and very visual.

What about the fleeting nature with which it’s received?
The fleeting way of seeing it was the main reason for the decision to make this image. As I mentioned, the spectator only has a few seconds to see it, so the image had to be very simple.

How did you approach the scale? Were you used to it?
A while back I figured out that the bigger the scale, the simpler the image should be. I learned that from Claes Oldenburg.

What does this type of project offer you, and what do you think you bring to the project?
I don’t know what I contribute. That’s not for me to decide. For me, the only thing I wanted to do was to participate and have fun with it.

Why is a project like TruckArtProject interesting?
I think these types of projects allow art to reach places that it otherwise wouldn’t. I can’t imagine one of my exhibitions at some parking lot on the border or some highway café... This way, whereas my work usually stays in one place for months, now it will be in hundreds of places in a matter of days!

Javier Díaz-Guardiola