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Marc Badia (1984) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Spain.
Badia has a master’s degree in Artistic Production and Research from the Fine Arts University of Barcelona, and is presently an exchange student at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg).
Marc Badia’s work is mainly focused on the hermeneutics of images in a pictorial and installative practice, using humour and mystery as tools of critique.
I guess we all change, and the answer to the question of who you are varies according to the day and time a person is in.
Today I would say that I am a village boy.
A small village in Catalonia that developed around a textile colony that was built more than a hundred years ago.
The factories closed down a few decades ago and today most of the inhabitants are elderly.
My grandparents were workers in that factory, children of the Spanish post-war period who did not have it particularly easy.
It was in this context that they met and formed the family that has made it possible for me to exist.
It was in a studio visit of a gallery owner many years ago, he liked my work, especially my drawings, but he said to me: "if you want to do something in the art world, from this notebook you have shown me, you need to make twenty more".
I liked the gallery and, on that occasion, I missed the opportunity to work with them, even though it was not something I had thought about until that moment.
That's when I realised that there were people interested in my work but that I had to work harder.
I live and work in Barcelona, I love the Mediterranean.
I usually arrive at my studio around 9 in the morning, water the plants, have a coffee, a cigarette and go over the previous day's work.
Lately I listen to a lot of podcasts, especially in the morning.
In the afternoon I listen more to hip-hop, jazz, etc... I often end up dancing or using my paintbrushes as drumsticks.
It’s like two different states, in the morning I work more quietly and in the afternoon the rave begins....
The truth is that I love spending the day in the workshop, I find it a privilege.
I grew up listening to Spanish hip-hop in the 90's, wearing a good pair of trainers is an important element of this culture.
As a counter-culture it criticises certain aspects of the system but at the same time integrates itself into it.
For me they represent a generational contradiction.
On the one hand there are many things about this system that I don't like, on the other hand when I have a bad day I like to wear a nice pair of good-looking trainers.
It is something that feeds a consumerist system but at the same time gives a sense of empowerment.
Contradictions and absurdity as part of the human condition.
Foolosopher is an oxymoron attributed to both medieval and Zen culture.
I stumbled upon it in the book "Fools are everywhere, the court jester around the world" by Beatrice K. Otto.
She portrays this foolish character, who sometimes gets it righter than those who consider themselves wiser.
Either by pure chance or because sometimes humour has the ability to dismantle that which is taken as a great truth.
For my first solo with L21 Gallery I have presented four pieces that are like four vignettes from a comic book.
They tell the story of a character who waters a slipper.
As the series progresses, the plants grow, blossom and bear fruit.
The cycle of life.
In a dystopian twist, the vegetation eats the character, spreading across the scene, uprooting the columns that frame it.
Thank you very much for your interest.
Exhibitions, residencies, awards (past, present, future):
I am now preparing new pieces for Untitled Miami and for a solo show in Hong Kong.
Marc Badia has exhibited at Centro del Carmen de Valencia (Valencia), Espositivo Mad (Madrid), Galería Fran Reus (Mallorca), La Capella (Barcelona), Fundación Arranz Bravo (Barcelona) and at Arco Madrid with the L21 gallery (Mallorca). He has held residencies at the Free University of Tbilisi (Georgia), the DE Kaaij festival (Nijmegen, Holland) and Major 28 (Lleida).
Which keywords describe your work best.
Foolosopher, contradictions, absurd.
A big thank you to Marc and Cristina Ramos from L21 for sharing with us to share with you!
