DAVID VELA CERVERA: A HUMOROUS VISION OF PICASSO, DALÍ AND AN EGG
by Francisco PUNAL SUAREZ / Spain.
Spanish illustrator and cartoonist David Vela wins third prize in the World Press Cartoon with a work that confronts the vision of Picasso and Dali, with respect to art.
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Artwork by David VELA CERVERA / Spain
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My Picasso versus Dalí continues to give me joy. It failed to end the World Press Cartoon Awards 2014, after months of difficulties in the organization, and I’ve received the Third Prize in the category of Humorous Drawing – expresses the cartoonist and illustrator David Vela Cervera from Zaragoza.
The winning drawing was born from the idea of bringing to the humorous absurdity the classical subject of “The Painter and the Model”, replacing the model for an egg and confronting the vision of two key figures such as Picasso and Dali – says David.
The work, a colorful, and where the figures radiate some inner light, very defined by style of Vela, is a pretext to reflect on the plurality of views, and the ability of artistic creation to interpret the reality in very different ways, in some cases almost antithetical, and that none of them has to be necessarily better than the other, just different.
It was at the Museum of Humor de Fene, where I met Vela in 2003, when he won the Curuxa prize with his artwork that was an allegation against environmental pollution and which referred to the catastrophe caused by the tanker Prestige on the Galician coast, showing a child on a sand beach, building a refinery before a sea of oil slicks.
Since then, I have followed closely the evolution of the artist and how his work often reflects critical aspects of society, in which he gently thrusts his creative scalpel.
This outstanding author, graduated in Hispanic Philology, obtained as a cartoonist in his rising career, over thirty prizes at several international competitions held in Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Iran, China, Bulgaria, among others. In his list of awards are: the Curuxa award in Galicia; first place in the International Biennial of Tenerife; the second and third prize in this World Press Cartoon; the second in the PortoCartoon; First Prize at The 6th International Festival of Fadjr Visual Arts; First prize in the 4th Contest of Graphic Humor and Health at the University of Lleida and Humoralia, and others.
Vela in addition to creating stage designs for plays, is the author of excellent book illustrations “Bestiario de greguerías” (2006) on zoological by Ramon Gomez de la Serna; “Ninfas y calaveras” (2013) with a selection of texts by the same author, and his magnificent essay “Los muertos y las muertas.” Another of his works is “Universo Mundo” (2009).
This year he already has two completed projects. First, the drawings for a recorded book for children, the fantastic Tiritiriteros de Binéfar, which will be published very soon for the Christmas season. Moreover, an illustrated book of stories, between black humor and macabre fantasy, by writer and illustrator Jack Mircala, currently looking for editor.
Satire – as David manifests – is important to lash power and as a defensive weapon against injustice. But I think that humor is now even more important, indispensable, as an analytical tool to understand reality from distance. At a time when it seems that commands immediate message, manipulation, falsehood, improvisation, noise, I think you should use the humorous vision, and calm broader perspective for analyzing the reality – terminates.
Francisco PUNAL SUAREZ
(* Author of the article is renowned Spanish journalist and photographer)
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* Profile page of David Vela in the Cartoon Gallery you can find HERE