It's just painting

It's just painting is a project by Can Monroig in which we invite painters, creatives, poets, and musicians to show their most mischievous side in interior design and art. Since we finished the renovation of the house, we have always sought to contrast this old space with a contemporary and atypical decoration, in a line that we call classic-mischievous and unconventional. The idea is that art should find a place in our homes, and be created to coexist with it. Painting on unconventional supports, intervening photography, four-handed painting or improvisation between musicians and painters are some of the current proposals.

Painting in the studio

In October 2014 we started this experiment in Can Monroig that we call  #It's_just_paint with the collaboration of the painter Manuel Santiago.
The first few months of this collaboration took place in an improvised workshop on the upper floor of the house, where Manuel and I (Marie-Noëlle Ginard) each painted separately on large panels.

Vito, Manuel and Noelle

In July 2015 we had a memorable session painting some sofas in the Can Monroig “underground”, this time there were three painters, Manuel, Vito Mardarás and myself.
An incredible atmosphere was created under the influence of the music of Nils Frahm. It was the first time we shared support and worked on each other's fresh paint, with some anger and annoyance included; but as we have always maintained: the process is what matters and that afternoon was unforgettable. 

It's just paint, July 2015 from Can Monroig on Vimeo.

A few months later we left the studio, and Manuel and I moved to the ground floor, sometimes painting in the library area, other times on the dining room table, and other times in the “underground”.
What happened then was that we started drawing and painting on the paper from some old sea charts we had bought at the flea market, but no longer separately, but together, both of us on the same support; Manuel would start by drawing something and then I would paint on top of it, the paper would be exchanged several times until we liked the result.
Throughout 2016 we invited musicians to play improvised music while we painted: Violeta reciting or singing, Javi on the guitar, Ellisabetha with her cello, Adela and her piano... but the ones with whom we managed to create absolutely suggestive atmospheres were Vito Mardarás and Sebastià Alomar.

It's just paint from Can Monroig on Vimeo.

Vito and Sebastian

In the coming weeks we hope to resume “Es solo Pintura” on Thursday nights, we will have the collaboration of other musicians and artists, and in October we will present a sample of the work done over the last two years.

Photos: Robert Lopez Hinton and Patrick Parenteau

Videos: Robert Lopez Hinton