The title was extracted from one of Federico García Lorca’s Sonetos del amor oscuro (Sonnets of Dark Love) because I was attracted to the sonority and the visual concept of the antitheses ‘tigre y paloma’, a tiger and a dove. The poet describes his desperation while waiting for a sign from his lover while being apart. The opposition within the two terms, tenderness and ferocity, calmness and passion, resonated with the clashing emotions I was experiencing at the moment.
This all happened before the start of the pandemic, when I found myself exploring my own identity after moving to NYC. I picked the title to enclose the project as an inspirational note and initial position to build the narrative for the series.

The intention was never to portray the sadness behind quarantine, it all came before the Covid-19 outbreak. I was immersed in emotions of missing home and wanted to make sense of my thoughts. The consequence of moving overseas triggered those existential questions. Mentally, I started to recompile images from childhood memories and family times.
The painting Por mi iaia ‘La Pencha’ is a tribute to my grandmother, who passed away years ago. The main character – a self-portrait – cries while the other, my grandma (or ‘iaia’ as we call them in Catalunya) holds the cryer’s head in consolation. She’s symbolized with a grey braid and the necklace she always wore.
La Costa Daurada depicts my favourite memories – spending every summer of my youth in the Mediterranean Sea. I miss the noisy crowds you find at the beach! I wanted to represent all those little stories unfolding around you at any given moment during a summer by the coast. This painting is happy and positive, bringing a very different feeling than the more melancholic paintings in the show.

I definitely focus on how I am feeling because that energy will dictate how the painting will look. I have to connect with myself. Painting is a very honest act for me.

Oh, that is such a nice idea, I didn’t think of it that way! A friend that you carry in your wallet as a reminder of their love! When I finish a portrait and give it a name, I definitely feel that I ‘know’ that person. I like to imagine their story and personalize every character with a different mood, which always correlates with mine. A lot of anxiety in those portraits, you are right!

My mood has varied throughout the days and weeks. I have been like everybody else – worried and anxious in the beginning when we didn’t know the extent of the impact on the population. Uncertainty and not feeling in control creates a lot of anxiety. For days, I couldn’t go to the studio, and when I would work I couldn’t concentrate. But somehow, a few weeks after the lockdown, I accommodated into this new regime and managed to gain some energy, working harder in order to stay sane. My routine hasn’t changed too much, though. Us artists tend to work many hours in isolation, anyway.

We were already using online platforms, but we are investing in and expanding our online presence. Artists, galleries and collectors are used to seeing art through the screen, and they can trust the work if they already know the artist. But we are missing the human exchange, which is so important for conversation.