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The international artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada has painted a beautiful tribute full of love and tenderness to his late son Neuquén, who sadly passed away in 2020. The mural is titled ‘SIEMPRE’ meaning forever and was created with the help and support of his wife, their other children Milla and Alén and the photographer Ana Álvarez-Errecalde.
In July 2020, Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada and his family had to say goodbye to Neuquén, only 20 years old. An unimaginable pain, which has come to life and sense in a wonderful mural in Badalona where the artist and his son merge in an eternal embrace.
The very first mural that Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada painted when he arrived in Barcelona 20 years ago was also a portrait of his firstborn child Neuquén, only then was when Neuquén was a baby. Now the artist revisits the area and repaints his son 20 years later as a beautiful tribute to his life and memory.
Located next to the Badalona train station, “Siempre” was carried out in two phases, and the City Council, upon seeing the work, decided to make it permanent.
Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is known for gigantic portraits of unknown faces or a mixture of many different faces expressing diversity, empathy and moral values.
The artist also created many works where his family served as inspiration and rarely paints himself, only for the tribute mural ‘SIEMPRE’ he painted himself placing a tender kiss on his son’s cheek.
Ana, Milla and Alén were present in every part of the creation process, sharing very beautiful and intense moments together.
“We decided to not create a line between life and art. It makes total sense then that my whole family was there for such an important creation.” Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada
For the last 2 years, the artist has focused on working on lines and movement, which allows him to play with various textures and techniques.
“When I first arrived in Barcelona in 2001, the first mural I ever did was of my son, Neuquén, and here I am, 20 years later, creating a mural that combines so many things that he taught me throughout his journey by our side. It is now where his mother, brother and sister went up on the lift with me to help me create this homage to him.
Neuquén showed me so much, and I feel like a lot of the things I do today as an artist, with all the scale and complexity, are not barriers for me because caring for him showed me what true barriers are. All the other things that we let stop us are usually just in our heads. Thank you beautiful, tender, wise, Neuquén for expanding my horizons in art, life and love. Thank you Ana Álvarez-Errrecalde, Milla and Alén for being such an important part of creating this mural and everything else in my life.” Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada
The broadcast LA PELL DELS MURS decided to dedicate a 30min documentary to the artist, produced by Patricia Fombella and Santi Suarez and directed by Laura Herrero Garvin, in collaboration with Montana Colours.
Photo credit Ana Álvarez-Errecalde
Drone video credit Fernando Alcalá Losa
