The penitentiary center of Ibiza becomes a great art gallery

The downtown area where there are some graffiti and Gianluca Romeo's great work, ‘The triumph of light’.
DANIEL ESPINOSA

For a few months the Penitentiary Center of Ibiza has a certain air of an art gallery. Thanks to the efforts of its director, Manuel Vega Alocén, its deputy director Sonia Rodríguez Hernández and the urban artist born in Ibiza, Hosh, it looks something more human to achieve the final objective of the reintegration of the prisoners in society. to a series of murals and paintings that can be found in the central area, along with a beautiful Christmas tree and a huge nativity scene, and the colorful graffiti of the area destined for the vis a vis of the inmates with their families.

However, in this story another great protagonist also plays a fundamental role, the Italian Gianluca Romeo. With a perfect Spanish that he learned in Cuba when he arrived in 1997, and with more than 15 years on the island of Ibiza, this ex-inmate with the soul of an artist, painter and philosopher has been in charge of creating most of the works that can be see on the walls with a really surprising result.

As he explained, yesterday, he himself told Periódico de Ibiza and Formentera everything began several years ago when another prisoner began to make some paintings in the area of ​​the toilet of the officials and the infirmary. As the final result was really improvable, the prison director, Manuel Vega Alocén, asked him if he could fix them and Romeo did so by painting on the walls two high-quality reproductions of the graffiti made by the urban artist Banski, the girl's most famous releasing a balloon and another, in a blue background, with another girl holding a bunch of balloons.

The result was so satisfactory that the two decided to go one step further and create two new murals based on reproductions of works by the Dutch painter, Van Gogh. Romeo did not hesitate but wanted to leave his particular contribution. Thus, using the trompe l'oeil technique and a surprising three-dimensional effect for the frames and information plates, in 2019 he painted the works Campo de Trigo and Noche Estrellada, the latter with the silhouette of the penitentiary center in Ibiza. "I wanted to add it, with its very visible dome, because for many this place is like a temple and because it seemed to me an original way of making a metaphor about the meaning of captivity and what it means for many people on a spiritual level," he explained yesterday to respect the Italian painter himself.

‘The triumph of light’

These two paintings were the final push that Romeo needed to convince those responsible for the center that he could make his great masterpiece.

Along with the cleaning module and two new Banskis - inspired by a girl swinging on a swing and a smaller girl looking at a bird - you can see The Triumph of Light, a large, high-quality painting that is protected by a glass so that it is not damaged.

As the author assured this newspaper, he finished painting it recently, between October and November, just before leaving prison and "it is a fusion between metaphysics and surrealism with various messages and tributes hidden among its many corners."

In its elaboration Romeo used acrylic paints and also the trompe l'oeil technique, carrying out geometric calculations and different allegories that make the work a host of sensations. «From the first moment it was clear to me that I wanted to dignify the center and respond to the trust they had placed in me but not to do it in any way but to create a different and original work full of meanings and references to the 12 months of the year, the four seasons , to be a metaphor for the period we are currently living through a Greek-inspired bust with a mask or the great painter Salvador Dalí through his famous work The Persistence of Memory.

All this placing Es Vedrà and Es Vedranell in the center of the composition, both framed on a frame in which the Latin inscriptions Tempus Fugit and Carpe Diem can be read. «This phrase comes to say that you have to live in the moment but for me it means much more since it has a meaning of the present, of real liberation, that our limits are only in our mind and that, as the great Andalusian poet Antonio Gala, we are the light without any kind of predicate.

Hosh Workshop

Another part of the penitentiary center of Ibiza that now looks colorful and bright is the one destined to the meetings between the prisoners and their families. It is a small room that has been decorated by the inmates who have participated in an original urban art workshop taught by the Ibizan artist Joshua Socías, known in the national street art world as Hosh.

In this case, the idea came from Manuel Vega Alocén, Sonia Rodríguez and Josh himself and seeing the results, both on an artistic and personal level, it can be said that it has been a success. It was taught once a week, during the first quarter of 2020, just before the confinement for the coronavirus began, and about 20 inmates have participated in it, of which only one is currently in the center and because it is in quarantine .

As Hosh himself explained yesterday to Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera, the workshop was very collaborative and was divided into a theoretical and an eminently practical part. In fact, the vis a vis area was chosen by the participants themselves, "because it seemed like a very sad and unwelcoming place with its white walls," and the themes to be reflected as well.

Finally, following the guidelines of the Ibizan urban artist and using acrylic and spray paints «they painted children's motifs, thinking of the children who usually come to see their parents, with very bright and cheerful colors and with a surprising perspective that makes it even more original and surprising the result ».

However, for Hosh, there is something much more important than what can be seen on the walls of the space. «Whenever I participate in any of these social initiatives I say that the best of all is what I learn from all of them, what they teach me for my life, and in this case it has not been an exception because beyond how beautiful they have I have left the paintings and I have gone home knowing that I have witnessed a unique experience ».