Okuda San Miguel, street artist and sculptor from Madrid. Photography © Elchino Po
1.In your opinion what is the role of a museum?
I believe it should be to select the best artists in the world and set up big retrospectives with enough money for a good production show, with artists offering artworks that give the public the chance to live an experience, to be interactive with art.
In my case, whenever I have an exhibition at a museum I try to show pieces where the people can be part of the artworks. For example, the kaleidoscopes I am showing right now at K11 Art Mall in Guangzhou, China. These are not for sale, just for the enjoyment of the visitors.
2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?
The Anthropological Museum of Lima and the same in the DF, MoMA, the MET, Guggenheim of Bilbao, the Louvre Museum and also the Tate. And then Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Reina Sofia in Madrid and of course Museo del Prado.
I feel very inspired in anthropological museums then, the more classic museums remember me of my academic years and my first inspirations when I started making art. And the contemporary ones because I’ve discovered some of my favorite artists in them (Murakami, Koons, Haring…).
3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.
I believe they are quite important, at least for me. With them I hold the power and I don’t need to blend with the art market structure. A lot of proposals come to me directly from these networks. Instagram is my thing: it is my diary.
4.In particular, due to the coronavirus emergency, how have you changed your business on social networks?
Well, as we cannot travel we’ve gone more digital. And for example, artworks sales are more oriented now in that way. Also, with the lockdown and the lack of mural projects, we’ve focused in studio-designed artworks and gadgets we can show online.
5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?
Virtual visits to artist’s studios would be a nice thing to do if you haven’t tried yet…
Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist
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Okuda San Miguel on social networks: Instagram − Facebook
Óscar San Miguel Erice aka Okuda San Miguel (Santander, 1980) is a Spanish street artist and sculptor who studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. Colorful and hypnotic geometric structures, often of people and animals, tell of existentialism, the meaning of life and fluid modernity.
His style can be defined as Pop Surrealism inspired by the great masters of the past, in particular Salvador Dalì, and his works are found throughout Europe and in Peru, Mexico, India, Mozambique, the United States, Mali, Chile, South Africa, Japan and Brazil.
Among the most important works, Okuda painted the inside walls of a 100-year old church Santa Barbara in Llanera, Asturias, it’s called Kaos Temple and today is a cult destination for skaters of any city. In France he created one of the largest works in Europe: the “Mona Lisa” on a building in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, with more than 450 spray cans for a work 50 meters high and 15 meters wide.
Instead, as a tribute to the natural wealth of the Spanish coast, he recently created “Infinite Cantabria”: a 16 meter high lighthouse which he has completely renovated with more than 70 colors. Okuda is based in Madrid.
