Correspondence Painting

During five years, Fernando García and me maintained a painting correspondence. The idea was to paint as if we were writing letters: one of us paints, the other replies, tells new things... We used an easy to handle size, easy to carry in the car, the bus, walking o sending them by courier, so 50x50 cm was our choice. The 75 paintings are shown arranged in a rectangular composition, but they were created linearly, one after the other, so they must be seen and compared as if you were reading. The best way to hang them would be in a line, but it’s difficult to have a 37.5 meters wall to show them in that way. 'The bug on the color stripes' was the first one, and the one at the right was the second. After a few years, we decided to start a new thread, so we started painting the way to the left. That means that more or less, moving from the top left corner and the bottom right corner to the center, the paintings are contemporary. Our main intention was to paint for fun, just to enjoy. Both things painting and playing are useless, at least for the majority of the people, so our correspondence agrees with that idea. We wrote a conversation among us for the catalog of the exhibition. Next, there is an excerpt of it: Fernando Garcia: What do you think Van Gogh would have painted in Tibet? Jalid Melloul: People have to know that the important thing is not the answer but the question. You want me to play, so you ask things. I would say 'the stroke of Van Gogh is like a mandala, so he would have tried to change the way Buddhist monks use to paint, and frustrated, likewise, would have committed suicide'. As I said, the importance is that everyone starts thinking. Maybe we get an only amazing idea out of hundreds, but the question made people think and generated ideas, like a joke that will make people laugh, or a tale for our kids, or just another question to keep on thinking. FG: Wich pair of paintings do you think are more representative? JM: To aisle two of them is to lessen the first one, as we lose the link to the previous one. The most valuable of this correspondence is the whole thing, not any choice of paintings. If split, not even us will like some of them, but within the set, all of them are loved ones, because all of them are part of the story. FG: Then tell me, which of mines has surprised you the most? JM: Hokusai's 'The Great Wave'. You normally don’t paint in such a detailed way. The painting is not realistic itself but is a very close copy of the original, and I couldn’t imagine yourself painting such a detailed work- but you did it great! FG: And what is your favorite one from yours? Which one would you paint in a large version? JM: 'The flood'. I've just titled it, but I suppose you will notice which one is. To title paintings is a game too. Do you remember the day I hung exhibition labels to all of the paintings in your studio? FG: Yes, I still remember. And you, do you remember when I stuck red points to all of yours? Selling is also like playing a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Multi-paneled Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:295.3 W x 98.4 H x 0.8 D in

Number of Panels:2

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.