Carlos García Pérez: “It is an honor to be the hands that bring Quini back to reality”

In a few weeks it will be cast in bronze and installed in September on the esplanade located between the Isabel La Católica park and El Molinón. Meanwhile, the future statue of Quini rests in the study of Carlos Garcia Perez (Gijón, 1978), accessed by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA to discover the work dedicated to the sporting myth. The modeling, the most important phase, is over. The image imposes. The look and the unmistakable gesture of the mouth –which he has redone on several occasions– is of a realism capable of enveloping the atmosphere of something as difficult as that charisma that El Brujo gave off. The shirt, the socks, the unforgettable “9” on the back… Everything, full of details. “For me it is an honor to be the hands that bring Quini back to reality,” says the author. To those who knew Quini, seeing the piece will ask for a hug.

Entering Carlos García Pérez’s studio is already a discovery in itself. The appointment is on the ground floor of a building in Natahoyo, the neighborhood in which he was born. For him, it is more important where the place where he works is located, than the comforts or the size that he can offer. Around the space are old neighbors and even the school where he studied. He says the sounds of children running around the yard inspire him. “My work is multidisciplinary. Contemporary and conceptual art. I like to use industrial materials because they remind me, they identify me with my origin. I need that close origin”, comments, by way of presentation, who has exhibited in more than half the world after being chosen for the first patronage of the María Cristina Masaveu Foundation, in New York, more than a decade ago. In the background, during the conversation, a series of musical melodies is heard. He smells of paint, clay and damp.

The conversation continues between various pieces that bear witness to projects by the artist from Gijón. There is a series of mirrors that can already be seen in the halls of the Ritz in Madrid. There is also a painting from the Geomorphology series, one of which was given to the King and Queen of Spain, as a gift from the Principality, which has several pieces, during one of their visits to the Princess Awards. “This type of work takes months of work, but the rhythm has not been the usual,” he says about the marathon days dedicated to the statue of Quini, a project that began to take shape “last year.” The Anselmo López Association especially insisted on it. “We wanted to collect the celebration of a goal, on a real scale (1×1), because it is the most repeated thing in his career, something very characteristic. piece, which will have a base of green marble “arrived from Brazil” and that gives it an “interesting conceptual value” to join it to the Isabel La Católica and El Molinón parks. Despite the fact that sound art or abstract expressionism are the protagonists of some of the works that collectors and experts value most in Carlos García’s rich career, the man from Gijón assures that he is particularly motivated by figurative work, such as the bust of Anselmo López that it can be seen in El Molinón, in Bardales, in La Calzada, or in the aforementioned Quini statue. Perhaps because they connect him with the other public, that of the street. He is also the author of the bust of Cristiano Ronaldo – he is his brother-in-law – which can be seen at the Madeira airport. He speaks proudly of his relationship with the Portuguese, but insists, rightly so, that his artistic journey is broader and prior to his relationship with him. He keeps the mold of all these pieces in his studio, along with a large statue of a Qatari emir that remained in the project, but led “to others that we have been developing.”

Carlos García says that there is a lot left in him from the one who began his studies at Lloreu and continued at the also Gijon institute number 7, from where he moved to Salamanca to study Fine Arts. He did two specialties, Sculpture and Design. He was living in Washington for a while and returned to Gijón to work as a creative in an agency, Etérea. “In 2008 I made the decision to work exclusively on my artistic project”, explains who has been embracing a profession for 14 years “that will accompany me until I stop living”. Now he intensely revives football, which marked his youth. He played for Veriña and La Braña, played for Asturiana and debuted in the División de Honor scoring a goal against Sporting. “He played as a striker or winger. He was very fast”, comments who was always clear that his was an art different from that of the ball. As a child he even earned “a few euros” by drawing portraits. Among his first commissions, one of Luis Enrique. He had been asked by Isma, his coach and discoverer of the current national coach. So, neither of them knew that they would succeed internationally.

“I really want it to be inaugurated,” says Carlo García, who enjoyed Quini from the stands after José Antonio, his father, told him about the greatness of El Brujo, with whom he shared military service. He is the father of two children, Nicolás, eleven years old, and Deva, 7 months old, who are other of his main sources of inspiration. “I would like the statue to serve to remember Quini as he was, like everything he represents,” concludes the man from Gijón while carefully reviewing every detail of the piece. There is much left to celebrate next to Quini.

Campaign to finance the project