At first glance, the Cliffs of Los Gigantes command all the attention. However, the work Txemy Basualto has created from his perspective on Santiago del Teide invites viewers to pause and look a little closer: the mist, the blue of the ocean and the organic nature of the painting broaden the way we see one of the municipality’s most recognisable landscapes.
Born in Chile, raised in Tenerife and based in Barcelona for many years, Txemy’s work has appeared on walls, in galleries and in projects around the world. On this occasion, his artistic language becomes the creative focus of the campaign designed for World Tourism Day. We spoke to him about his first steps in painting, his connection with the Canary Islands and the process that shaped this work.
SDT: You were born in Chile, grew up in Tenerife and have been developing your artistic career in Barcelona for many years. How do you remember your first steps in painting?
My first steps in painting were shaped by joining the Fernando Estévez School of Art in Santa Cruz de Tenerife when I was 15. The old curriculum was still in place and you had to work through every discipline. It was the only art school that still followed that system: a four-year course in which, from the very beginning, you studied drawing, painting and sculpture. That was my first contact with painting, oils and the more classical techniques associated with it.
SDT: The Canary Islands remain present in your identity and your work. How is that connection reflected in your art today?
The main reason the Canary Islands form part of my identity is that I am raising my daughter, who is seven and is about to turn eight. I am experiencing her childhood, we play every day and, naturally, that makes me think about my own.
I had a wonderful childhood by the sea in Puerto de la Cruz, in a village called Punta Brava. I grew up there, playing football and watching the waves crash against the houses. The village is surrounded by the sea, and we used to play in those narrow streets where it is always present: it is not simply in front of you, it surrounds you. It is something that has always drawn me in and that made a strong impression on me as a child.
I think connecting my daughter’s childhood with my own has led to Canarian nature and landscapes being represented in my work at this point in my life.
SDT: Before beginning this project, were you familiar with Santiago del Teide?
Fortunately, I already knew it. When I was a child, I used to visit this part of the island with my father, who had a screen-printing workshop, although it was very different back then. I am talking about 40 years ago.
A year earlier, I also had the pleasure of rediscovering Santiago del Teide through a project with La Casona del Patio, and that made me fall in love with the place all over again. It reminds me of the Tenerife I knew as a child, which is, in fact, the Tenerife I represent in my work today.
That influence connects my work with making things by hand, and Santiago del Teide has brought back memories of Tenerife 40 years ago, when I was a child.
SDT: What attracted you most to the idea of creating this work for Santiago del Teide?
I think what attracted me most was the diversity. It is a place, a municipality, that genuinely inspires every kind of discipline, and I do not mean only creative disciplines, but also sport and even life on a personal level. I think everything the municipality offers surrounds you with visual stimuli, not to mention sounds, that inspire you to create, in my case, a painting.
A painting that speaks of the sea, of making things by hand, of the colours of the almond trees and the cetaceans, of the mist and the cliffs, of craftspeople and craftsmanship. I connect my work with all of that, and I think it creates a strong bond between the art and the place.
SDT: At first glance, the Cliffs of Los Gigantes appear to play a leading role in the work. What did you want to convey about this landscape?
Are the cliffs the main focus? At first, it seems that way, but as you spend more time looking at the work, I think you become aware of the mist and the natural power of Santiago del Teide. The mist, the canvas, the blue of the ocean, the search for an elegant image… I think it is a concept that will represent the municipality and that I also try to convey in some way.
SDT: From the first ideas to the finished piece, how did the painting take shape?
I think I had a fairly clear idea for this project, although I did not fully understand what the final result would be. That may sound slightly contradictory, but I knew which technique I wanted to use because of its craftsmanship and because it was different. What I did not know was how it would actually unfold, because I had never represented a graphic image using such a fluid and difficult type of mark.
I think the final result emerged, once again, from inspiration, while also representing a place. I was genuinely pleased with it, not because I am saying that the painting is good, but because I believe the visual codes that represent the municipality and those that represent me are both clearly expressed. That is one of my challenges in these situations, or with this kind of painting.
The viewers will ultimately decide whether the final result, or the form it has taken, is appropriate or beautiful.
SDT: The work will reach residents and visitors through different activities and materials created for this campaign. What does it mean to you to share a work conceived for Santiago del Teide in this way?
Visually, Santiago del Teide does not need my painting to represent the municipality. But I think choosing to do so through a canvas, through such an organic form of painting, at a time when artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly significant role in all these kinds of projects, says a great deal about the municipality. It speaks of respect for the organic and of an effort to create something different.
The fact that they chose my painting even gives me a certain sense of relief, but above all I feel deeply grateful to those leading the Town Council who trusted me to make this happen. The fact that they are using something as organic as painting to represent their municipality means a great deal to me.
SDT: What has this experience given you as an artist?
The opportunity to enjoy and contemplate the landscape of Santiago del Teide. I believe in moments, in the instants that arise, and being able to experience its landscapes and nature from within is priceless.
You are not seeing it as someone who simply passes through and leaves, but neither are you seeing it as someone who lives there. Instead, you experience it with all your senses open so that you can create a painting. Being able to take those moments with me is one of the richest things I could gain.
Of course, there is also the experience of completing an institutional commission, the first of my career. But taking away the memory of having looked at the municipality with all my senses open is the most valuable part of this experience: truly enjoying Santiago del Teide.
The work, created through a collaboration between Santiago del Teide Town Council and Volcanic Xperience, becomes the creative focus of the promotional campaign designed for World Tourism Day. Its artistic language will feature across different activities and materials, including postcards and the traditional boxes of almonds, the latter produced with the collaboration of GMR Canarias.
In this way, Txemy’s perspective on Santiago del Teide extends beyond the original work and becomes the common thread running through an initiative that brings together artistic creation, landscape and local identity.
