The two free discussions are open to the public:
Wednesday, Feb. 17, and Monday, Feb. 22
TACOMA, Wash. – Spanish artist Ricardo Cavolo has painted colorful murals depicting misfit characters and modern infatuations at locations including the Google and Nike campuses, Montreal airport, the streets of Paris, Moscow, and London, and in the home of FC Barcelona, the Spanish soccer team. No wonder. Once you see a Cavolo mural, you do not forget it.
An internationally renowned painter and illustrator, Ricardo Cavolo is bringing his reflections and stories about the life and work of an artist, and about the role of public art, to Tacoma during a February residency at University of Puget Sound. Everyone is welcome to come to two free events featuring the remarkable artist:
Wednesday, Feb. 17: Kittredge Gallery
4:15–4:30 p.m.
Reception for Ricardo Cavolo
5–6 p.m.
“Double Visions: An Interview with Ricardo Cavolo,” led by Megan Sheldon, visiting assistant professor of Hispanic Studies. The hour includes a Q&A with the audience.
Monday, Feb. 22: Trimble Forum, Trimble Hall
4–5 p.m.
“Public Art: Planting Seeds, Starting Fires,” a presentation and discussion with:
Ricardo Cavolo; Eroyn Franklin, artist and co-founder of Short Run Comix and Arts Festival in Seattle; and Amy McBride, arts administrator for the city of Tacoma. Elise Richman, Puget Sound associate professor, art and art history, will moderate.
Ricardo Cavolo, born in Salamanca, Spain, spent a decade of his childhood living among the Roma people. Those early experiences and his fine arts training at Salamanca University continue to influence his art. His work is marked by bright and bold colors, and it often illustrates the lives and stories of characters at the margins of society—orphans, prisoners, and slum kids.
Cavolo’s richly symbolic, tattooed figures draw on folk imagery, and yet they appear in the most commercial and consumerist of places: city walls, storefronts, banners, sneakers, record covers, and the sides of airplanes and trains. His murals can be seen in Madrid, Montreal, Hong Kong, Paris, Kiev, Barcelona, and other cities around the world.
In addition, Cavolo’s illustrations are featured in books including some that he authored himself. He extends his artistic storytelling with delicately drawn lettered text. This can be seen in his new graphic diary, 100 Artists to Listen to Before You Die(Nobrow Press, September 2015), which has become a New York Times bestseller. The book illustrates the major musical influences on his art—from Bach to Radiohead—while sharing anecdotes from significant moments and relationships in his life.
While at Puget Sound, Cavolo will work with students studying art and art history. The portrait painting workshop will engage in painting patterned, brightly colored heads with watercolor on paper.
The art residency and public events are sponsored by the Catharine Gould Chism Fund in the Humanities and the Arts, and Puget Sound’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Department of English, and Department of Art and Art History.
For directions and a map of the campus: pugetsound.edu/directions
For accessibility information please contact 253.879.3236 or visit accessibility@pugetsound.edu or
Press photos of Ricardo Cavolo and his art can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: From top right: Ricardo Cavolo; Works by Cavolo: Elvis, Russian Man Tattoo, Victoria
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