30-year-old Barcelona-based artist EFIX is not only a street artist, but also a graphic designer and musician. He uses his art to 'fix' the ugly cityscape, such as cracks in concrete walls, broken pipes, etc. His tools are his humorous cartoons and illustrations of pop culture characters who perfectly blend into walls and sidewalks, interacting with their surroundings in a completely natural way and making streets look more alive. “I work a lot with Disney and Simpsons characters in general because they have already lived all the lives that any human being can have, so usually, when I see a shape that I like in the street, I take a picture of it and then I look at the photo every day to find an idea. Once I have the idea... I try to move it to the world of cartoons so that it touches my viewer even more easily,” says the artist.
His career as a street artist started five years ago when he began to notice the unpleasant features of streets and buildings in Barcelona. That’s actually where his motivation and inspiration come from! EFIX decided to use his artwork to cover these unpleasant features and make his city even more beautiful. “What I like the most about street art is, first of all, the emotions it causes in people in general when I do my street art. I have a city cleaner costume, I put it on and then I sit in the street and watch the passers-by marvel at it, especially the children. It's such a pleasant feeling to see a smile born on a face. And more personally, I like the feeling of giving something without expecting anything in return. Street art has taught me this value and it's really rewarding.”
“My street art, in my eyes, wants to be positive street art. That's why I take care never to damage the supports around me. I don't want to disturb anything, so I prefer to make ephemeral art—I find that there is a real poetic sense in that. This is why I use materials that do not stay over time, i.e. paper supports. And I use water and flour-based glues to create a texture that dissolves easily in the rain, or if the owner does not endorse my art. Just before creating the work, I take a photo of the wall and come with a meter to take its measurements. Once I have the proportions of the visuals, I go home and I draw it in the right dimensions. At one time, I tried to create my own colors with flower pigments, but I had a little trouble killing the flowers for my personal pleasure. And then, at nightfall, I come to paint my street art so that in the morning, it can work its magic on passers-by,” the artist explains his creative process.
The artist draws popular and easily recognizable pop culture characters that come from cartoons and that most of us associate with our childhood. “I like to use Disney characters because they have a very strong relationship with childhood and touching the viewer at the root is even more beautiful in my eyes,” explains the artist. From The Simpsons, Tom & Jerry, to the Lion King and Mowgli and many more, it surely gives us that feeling of nostalgia and perfectly decorates the streets of Barcelona.
"I started street art because I come from a big art school where you have the designers who end up in Pixar's studios, for example. But I preferred to be interested in music, personally. Since leaving this school, I've had a very strong relationship with the street, where my job at the start was to record street artists and to mix my influences with theirs. I was very quickly influenced by the street because during the day, I recorded them with my microphones and at night, I composed. It leaves you with this feeling that the world belongs to you and you can then rediscover the world as you see it," says EFIX. “I just want to say that no matter who we are, we have to believe in ourselves because nobody will do it for us. And if you have some crazy ideas, follow your ideas to the end. The world needs creativity, that's what feeds it!”
