god of nothing
“It all started in Candanchú…” Probably this inverted commas does not seem to you to be up to the start of an article that promises to end, as part of the vital journey of its protagonist, in Chicago . Don't worry, this is not a spoiler; it's just contextualization.
But it is that "everything started in Candachú" by chance, when 10 years ago Eduardo Vea Keating randomly threw a snowball against a wall without knowing, of course, that art would be born from there.
“I had gone skiing and it had snowed so much that they closed the station because they couldn't cope with what had fallen”, tells Traveler.es **NosE (@noselanariz) ** , pseudonym used by this creative director who came to Chicago in 2011 to work in advertising.
Chiberia
“Since I love snow, I went for a walk to enjoy the scenery. I was playing with her I threw a ball that stuck to the wall and I thought that something could come out of it”.
And it came out. Wow if it came out. For now, between 40 and 50 ephemeral murals made with snow until recreating, white on the wall, the Chicago skyline in Chiberia, whose photos circulated on social networks.
“I knew I wanted to do the skyline, but I didn't have a sketch or anything. After eight years living in Chicago, you already have the most emblematic buildings in your head. Then, I painted them and although the proportions were not correct, people know what you are painting” he explains.
And it is that improvisation is a house brand in the work of this man from San Sebastian who sometimes takes advantage of routine and seemingly innocuous situations, such as waiting for the bus or going down to buy beer, to create murals.
Although not having a plan does not mean that there is no reflection on work. “It all started with messages. The first said 'Nothing is forever', but in English that sounds less corny and played with the ephemerality of the material with which it is made. After many years of trying to appear intelligent in every line I wrote, I got bored." he remembers.
“Last year I started doing more abstract things , to have a better time and to enjoy what I was doing at that moment. I do a lot things with simple shapes, I started playing with it and for me they are the most beautiful”, he analyzes.
The messages came first
Messages, figures or landscapes. They all share the ephemeral quality intrinsic to these murals. “The beauty of it being ephemeral makes it more interesting. The one who sees it at the moment tells you that it is very cool and you can always capture it in a photo or a video”.
Document the creation process it's something he usually does with the older ones. Because, we insist, that it is improvised does not mean that some aspects are not measured. The mural "depends on the quality of the snow, how cold it is and the surface" Edward says.
“If the snow is very heavy and wet, it is difficult to hold on. Instead, if it is in powder it is easier for it to stay . The low temperature helps to keep it longer and at night it is easier because it is colder. As for the wall, I usually try to find rough surfaces and that are not in the sun because the snow falls before”.
Because this is about snow and being cold, and while most mortals dream of spring and summer heat, Eduardo does it by traveling from continent to continent in search of an eternal winter.
They all share the quality of being ephemeral
In fact, one of its objectives is to find a sponsor to carry out The Endless Winter Project (The Infinite Winter Project), a program in which Eduardo would travel the world looking for snow-covered landscapes to, through interviews and the making of his ephemeral murals, raise awareness of the consequences of climate change.
"It's a dream I've had since I was little. I really like the snow and I started skiing when I was five years old. With my sister we said that it would be great to travel the world skiing and I have taken up the idea with a colleague” he explains.
And in case you were wondering: all of his gloves have a hole in the right index finger. “My main work is **mittens from New Zealand** that I brought from New Zealand many years ago and they work great.”