“The Mediterranean has the light of Sorolla, the madness of Dalí and the abstract of Picasso” . Thus define Anthony Marest (Villena, 1987) the artistic essence of Mare Nostrum and the warm universe that inspires his work around the world.
Transmit the colors and sensations of the Mediterranean It has become the mission of this urban artist whose feats include the headquarters of Spotify in Miami and the European Parliament in different countries. Flamingos, banana trees, waves or geometric figures that enclose the colors of paradise. Anything goes when it comes to creating new rainbows.
THE BOY WHO PLAYED CATERPILLAR
When he was little, Antonyo always wanted to be an architect . In fact, most of the gifts he received were construction-related, like his beloved collection of Caterpillar machinery. In his childhood, his grandmother, Perla, gave him trays of white cakes to paint, and when he was eleven years old, Antonyo began to carve his name in old abandoned factories in his town.
“Most parents take their children to play soccer or to practice some popular sport, however, I spent the weekends with my father playing with bricks and cement ”, Antonyo tells Traveler.es
Antonyo Marest and his tropical Mediterranean.
At thirteen, he began working summers in the fields and at fifteen, in a sign company . At seventeen he worked in a glass factory where he made stained glass windows, a job he combined with weekends working in the nightlife of Alicante.
Shortly after he arrived in Orihuela, where he started studying interior design . Not happy with this specialty, he became interested in what today would be called “ephemeral architecture” and, endowed with several scholarships, he visited different universities in Barcelona, Berlin and New York until ending up in Romania.
Through these trips he found the inspiration that changed his artistic vision, especially after discovering one of his greatest artistic references: the Memphis group , an Italian industrial design collective of great influence in the 1980s.
In addition to this group, bolidism, the abstract art of Kandinsky and postmodernism Bofill They had a great influence on his work. “Until then I didn't know that they could pay me to paint, but when I received €150 for painting a marijuana store, it changed my perspective,” admits Antonyo. Years later, he collects 102 countries visited and about 500 interventions all over the planet.
A look at the colors of 'Miami Sunrise Tower'.
FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE WORLD
Antonyo's work is based on the so-called "tropicalisms" , through exuberant habitats full of life and color where there is room for waves and flamingos, monsteras and palm trees, always around a geometric figure patterns that stand out above the rest of the set.
Proof of this exotic universe we find examples such as the Andalusian Tropicalism Mural at the University of Seville, the Inclusion Mural in Burgos, Olillegra in Lisbon, The New Door in Chennai, or The Hug in Panama: "My work expresses feelings through color, although many times people interpret the murals in an incredible way and that fascinates me," says Antonyo.
However, when we ask him about his favorite work, he is clear: “Around the world I have painted in many countries, but for me, the most important or the most sentimental is Villa Allegra, in Salem, Massachusetts , in September 2018, since it was the first mural that I dedicated to my daughter . They are all important, but for me this one is very special.”
After years distributing his art to different parts of the world, one of the highlights of his career arrived: painting the new Spotify headquarters in the Wynwood district of Miami . An eight-storey totem made from containers brought from the port to form a frame covered in paint. A fully integrated project with the landscaping of the city of Florida , another of his main inspirations.
Over time, and despite his travels and hundreds of painted murals around the world, Antonyo still had the thorn to paint on his land : "In Spain there is support for urban art, but not like in other countries," he tells us. “The truth is that I have no complaints with the aid received, but in countries like, for example, the United States, art is better valued”.
The first proposal came from MyFlats , a complex of tourist apartments in the center of the city of Alicante where Antonyo gave life to a tropical universe in the form of a spiral staircase through seven floors, the perfect way to merge art and tourism. Also, recently painted a mural in Villena, his home town , as the best time travel to that childhood of fulfilled promises.
Among his new projects, Antonyo Marest is working on more than ten current commissions, including a solidarity mural for children in Madrid's Hospital de La Paz, a wall for the seats of the European Parliament in Greece, Estonia and Strasbourg, to Pit Viper brand in Salt Lake City, or the burning mask festival.
In addition, these days he has just finished a work in Benidorm and has just presented the new lifeguard posts at San Juan Beach, in Alicante, which we can enjoy this summer. A work inspired by the colors of the beaches of Miami's South Beach fused with the light of the Earth . And the fact is that the Mediterranean is unique, but Antonyo has taken it upon himself to turn it into a more global sea. A sea of all.
The ‘Coffee At Dawn’ mural in El Albir, Alicante.