Diego Fournier and the Collective Tres Zapotes "Ciudad Monstruo“ | © Diego Fournier / Tres Zapotes, Photo: Lucia Romero
Diego Fournier and the Collective Tres Zapotes "Ciudad Monstruo“ | © Diego Fournier / Tres Zapotes, Photo: Lucia Romero
Diego Fournier and the Collective Tres Zapotes "Ciudad Monstruo“ | © Diego Fournier / Tres Zapotes, Photo: Lucia Romero
Monster City
The Toy Temple in Mexico City and the Museum of Old Toys Mexico (MUJAM) presented the exhibition The Last Brushstroke of the Year (La última pinta del año) at the end of 2017. This event called on street artists such as Ani Kim, Pispopstore, Citlaliun Arcos and Romina Becker to put together the art on the walls of its roof terrace.I like that the colours and Mexico City are the scenario of this story.
Patricio Salazar
One of the participants was the Costa Rican Diego Fournier, who, together with the collective Tres Zapotes, took over the design of the mural Monster City. The pipes and supports, which held together the wall, were used as inspiration for the work.
On a yellow background, and dominated by black, pink and violet colours, one can see a dinosaur and a robot bear - together with two planes held by giant hands - destroying Mexico City. This scene was inspired by Christmas mornings where children get up early to unpack their toys and build entire cities before destroying them.
Between the buildings there are more than 2400 figures, each one inspired by personalities from Mexico City such as the freestyle fighters, tamal sellers (including the classic song "Tamales from Oaxaca, Warm Tamales") as well as the classic rabbits, monkeys and mice on the wheel, which the balloon sellers offer every Sunday in the squares of the city.
"The work was created in a playful way, as a tribute to the museum, the city and the game," says Diego Fournier. In a museum dedicated to a child's most important objects, the need to depict this in the work was more than obvious. "We wanted to celebrate the days when you play with your cousins who bring all their toys to build a big city. But this work will also be a tribute to Mexico City," the artist explains
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The artist
Diego Fournier is a Costa Rican artist, who held a paintbrush in his hand at a young age due to painting classes. But he did not discover street art until he was 18. After working on paper for several years, he began to portray his creations on the walls of Costa Rica. With his colourful lines, he quickly acquired a reputation that allowed him to paint in other countries.
"My inspiration is television, the cartoons of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon," he explains. His style is versatile and changes according to his current work, but he often caricatures reality with various elements that remind us of comics and the art of the English band Gorillaz.
Monster City was not inspired solely by the themes of MUJAM and Mexico City, but also by the physical structure of the wall, interspersed with several metal columns and horizontal and vertical pipes: "Because of all the pipes, nobody wanted to work on this wall. We took advantage of this to transform the pipes into two bridges of the raised city ring, five metro stations, a bicycle path, a power plant and buses," Diego comments.