"Desprestigio", 2017
In November 2002 oil tanker "MV Prestige" split in half and sank off the coast of Galicia in northern Spain. Carrying 77,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil the structurally deficient vessel caused the largest environmental disaster in the history of both Spain and Portugal.
With "Desprestigio", Pejac wanted to create a dark souvenir to human ignorance and lack of environmental responsibility, while producing his 1st sculptural edition to date. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of the Spanish, French and Portuguese coastline, strongly affecting the artist's native region.
Turning the disastrous real life story into a poetic sculpture, Pejac tirelessly hand painted and assembled each of the 30 exact replicas of the wretched tanker. From recreating all the details of the aged and weathered carrier, tenaciously stencilling its name (desprestigio – discredit / disgrace), to using a PET plastic bottle as a common example of a derivative product of crude oil, the artist developed a complex process using different techniques and setting new standards for his editioned works along the way.
📸 Lights, Camera, Action 🎬: Behind the Scenes of "Desprestigio"
Pejac tirelessly hand painted and assembled each of the 30 exact replicas of the wretched tanker, MV Prestige
In the words of the artist:
"This piece talks about the tragedy (of Prestige) that covered the coast of my country (and my region) in black [two decades] ago, and whose damage to nature is still visible today. I chose this particular case, but want to extend it to all the environmental tragedies that happen on our seas and oceans every few years. Desprestigio works as a dark souvenir of a fact that should not be forgotten: we must, and can, be much better guests on Earth. After all, this work is a message in a bottle.’’ ~ Pejac
Source: Pejac
About Pejac
"I prefer to speak with a soft voice," Pejac stated in one of his rare interviews, metaphorically describing his poetic approach to creating subtle yet impactful studio pieces and urban interventions. "When people speak with a soft voice, others draw closer to listen." This simple yet undeniable truth thoroughly explains the irresistible appeal and the effect of the Madrid-based artist's oeuvre while revealing his ability to summarise any subject to a preciously whimsical metaphor.
Working in various mediums, Pejac is known for his recreations of classic masterpieces, like the installation Don't Look Back in Anger (2016), which features a rendition of van Gogh's Starry Night (1889) carved by key into the hood of a Jaguar car. Although he graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Pejac is a fierce proponent of street art who believes art should be accessible to all. His works can be found in Paris, London, Milan, Moscow, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Tokyo, and the United States.
Pejac is very particular when choosing the right place, context, and medium or tools for a specific message. This is why he decided on the alleys of Istanbul to create trompe l'oeil window pieces; the bustling streets of Bushwick, New York, for a fossil trompe l'oeil; London's light posts for gravity-defying shoes; Tokyo for a miraculous appearance of shark fin on the sidewalk; Amman for the poignant materialisation of people's memories on the weathered walls of the Jabad Al-Weibdeh refugee camp; or Moscow for My Only Flag, depicting a child raising a flag made of branches.
In his studio practice, Pejac uses his fine art education to experiment with various techniques, continuously searching for the one that best conveys the desired atmosphere of his vision and concepts. Working with everything from oils and watercolour, over charcoal and pencil, to scarping, burning, stencilling, and spraypainting, but no stranger to sculpture or installation, the artist sees his practice "more like a marathon than a sprint while valuing the importance of the route"
Artist Studio: "It Can't Rain All The Time", 2020 | Image Source: Street Art News
“It can’t rain all the time”, a quote taken from the famous film The Crow, was a commentary on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.