Visita a Montjuic, 18 de setembre: Estadi Olímpic i Poble Espanyol – Visit to Montjuic, Sept 18: Olympic Stadium and Poble Espanyol

Friday the 18th was a sunny day, so my friends and I agreed to visit Montjuic, an area of Barcelona famous for the Castell de Montjuic, Plaça Espanya, the Olympic facilities from the ’92 Summer games, and more. We walked down Av. de la Reina Maria Cristina, up past the fountain and around the Palau Nacional (home of the Museu Nacional de Arte de Catalunya), and started our visit at the Olympic stadium and surrounding facilities:



Then, we meandered our way down the hill over to the Poble Espanyol, a “theme park” with zero rides but clones of buildings from all over Spain. We only had a few hours, but to take full advantage of the [high] price of admission, I’d recommend allotting a half or even full day for it. The complex was gigantic, and included art expositions, restaurants, shops, and a sculpture garden. With your ticket, they give you a schedule of the day’s events, most of which cost an obligatory drink at minimum: that day there were 2 art exhibitions, a treasure hunt, flamenco shows, and a musical performance.

Buildings each had unique crests, and some had cool doors, as the photo album below catalogs. But, I mostly didn’t enjoy it because the weather was souring and it became saturating to see tens of (in my view) mildly special buildings in quick succession:



The saving grace of our visit to Poble Espanyol, though, was seeing the work of Esteban Conesa, who was present at his own exhibition and patiently talked to us in Spanish about his technique, the unique features of each of his “etchings,” his expansive background in various disciplines that enable him to do what he does, and motivations for taking this up. I can’t call Esteban’s works carvings or paintings because they are technically neither – he makes them by using a special torch (a “firebrush”) to burn wood; by adjusting temperature and pressure he teases out images that are actually 3D, with individual hairs etched as separate ridges, carved wrinkles, faces actually popping out from the background, and other neat effects. The result includes a beautiful monochrome color scheme, and a background that is as determined by Esteban’s torch as by the particular piece of wood, a sort of synergy of natural and manmade art. He allowed me to photograph one of his etchings, which you can see below. He is the only artist of his kind in the whole world, and I was honored and inspired to meet this pirogravat (“one who “records” using fire”). More of his works, and his contact information (in case you want a painting yourself) are available from his ArteInformado profile.