The Madrilenian bookstore Crazy Mary illustrated by Andrea Reyes
Write Irene Vallejo in his book infinity in a rush that “The bookstores are those magical territories where, in an act of inspiration, we hear the soft, crackling echoes of unknown memory.”
She also considers them magical the illustrator Andrew Reyes. And full of surprises and possibilities. She defines them as "a fantastic space for discovery, meeting, conversation" and as something “essential for neighborhoods and cities”.
consider them your inevitable temptation perhaps it was one of the reasons that led him to choose them, back in 2019, as main theme of the calendar that she was thinking of creating. Selecting 12 seemed little to him and, since then, she keeps painting them.
“The bookstore series came about as a result of a calendar that my family gave me for Christmas with my drawings from different trips. I thought it was such a nice detail that I shared it on social networks, and they liked it so much that they wanted to buy it for me! So the following year, for 2019, I decided to make one of my own, and I chose Spanish and foreign bookstores as the theme,” Andrea tells Traveler.es.
Till the date, has been photographed almost 50 and she has no plans to stop there because painting them and giving them visibility makes her very happy.
Among the most special for her, Andrea lists Polyphemus, in Madrid, for being her neighborhood bookstore; The Tannhäuser Gate (Plasence), corsair letters (Salamanca), Untimely (Segovia), Laura Velazquez (Madrid), those of Madrid's Cuesta de Moyano, Mara-Mara (Vitoria)… And yes, she ends with an ellipsis because she considers that all of them “by the mere fact of being a bookstore, already deserve attention and time”.
For the first ones, the ones she included in the calendar, she noticed the facade, that they were pretty and with different styles, colors and shapes.
For the following “she has been gaining more weight inside: who are the booksellers, what is their history, their purpose... When you know what you draw, and appreciate it, when there is some kind of bond, it is more enjoyable and has more value”, she reflects.
The illustrator Andrea Reyes
She draws them using, above all, pencils, ink and watercolor, although recently released oil painting. “It looks like a beauty to me. It is very useful, at all levels, to know and experiment with different techniques, since each one has its own language and rhythm”.
Immerse yourself in it, enjoy it and do more of what makes us happy. “Drawing is for me something innate, almost as necessary and natural as eating or walking. I draw because it is my vital impulse, my way of doing, expressing, living. It motivates me, it excites me, it comforts me, it shelters me, it fills me”, says Andrea.
“Facing the others, I do not seek but the mere fact of sharing it; I really like sharing in general, and I find it exciting to do it with what is such an important part of us”, she reflects.
And in this matter of sharing, one of the last works with which she has given us has been the illustration for the poster of the Madrid Book Fair, that this 2021 celebrates its 80th edition, redeploying its booths full of books in El Retiro Park between September 10 and 26.
Andrea Reyes has drawn the poster for the Madrid Book Fair, which this 2021 celebrates its 80th edition
Andrea assures that she dreamed of it, of illustrating the poster for your favorite event of the year, since she was little.
“This is a doubly special edition: we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Fair and the cautious reunion with it. It symbolizes so much for everyone that the honor is immense. I have given myself completely, pouring out, through symbols and details, what most represents, identifies or constitutes me; what I think I am the most”.
Andrea shares her work through her Instagram account and puts it up for sale on her website store.