Grampus 2022 – Sempreviva
The month of May saw the creation of a new artwork for the Riu d’art Open Air Gallery. This work is situated in the Barrio of Santo Domingo. It’s history formed the inspiration for the work, with people coming to Riba-roja d’Ebre in the 60s to construct the large hydroelectric dam and simultaneously building their houses in this location.
The theme of control versus chaos, the clash of human harnessing of energy from the dam in the River Ebro contrasting with the wild wetlands of the local nature reserve all fed into this large scale collaborative artwork.
The painted elements flow from the existing drainpipe on the wall of Otto’s house, with river/landscape movement across the expanse of 12 metres of surface. With the tight, angled, geometric design of the ‘control room’ which emulates the function within the dam itself uses upcycled bottle tops as ‘buttons’ upon which delicately drawn insects, birds, pets and other symbols from nature are controlled into this grid of function over form.
The ‘Clash’ of the flow of the river into large, found pieces of wood depicts the buffers of the dam to slow the water when the gates are opened. This then opens on the fluid, chaotic composition of birds, wild flowers and trees. A large stork perches on one wooden platform to catch it’s prey from the river, flocks of swallows and swifts adorn the sky, with large scale wild poppies to inject bright colour and olive trees to complete the work.
The title ‘Sempreviva’ translates as ‘Everlasting’ or ‘Always Alive’ in English. This is the name of a wild plant which is found along the riverside and on farmland and was chosen by the artists as a very appropriate title for the work.
