Description
‘Wearable Dragon for Butterfly Souls’ by Raúl Guerra
Artist: Raúl Guerra
Title: ‘Wearable Dragon for Butterfly Souls’
Medium: Inks and Watercolour on Engraving Cream Paper 400gms
Dimensions: 10″ x 10″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2019
About the Artwork:
“This piece was inspired after one of my favourite concepts: the protection of innocence and beauty. These two universal ideas might differ from one culture to another, from one society to another, but we all have something in common; its preservation is part of our mission. Whether in terms of art creations or in our daily routines.
This girl wears a Dragon Helmet as a symbol of protection; as a way to protect from danger all that is pure and innnocent in her persona.
We all need to find a method to protect ourselves from all the shadows and monsters we encounter during our time here.” – Raúl Guerra
About the Artist:
Graphic narrator of journeys across the enchanted world of legends and mythology, Raúl Guerra is an artist in possession of an insatiable curiosity, which gives rise to his prolific body of alluring work.
Known simply as Raúl Guerra in the art world, Raúl Jiménez Guerra is a Spanish painter and illustrator from Andalusia (Ronda, Malaga). He graduated from the University of Granada with a degree in fine arts, majoring in painting and graphic arts. He subsequently undertook a kind of personal pilgrimage that would see him watching, learning, listening, absorbing & living in Belfast, Paris & London, on a perpetual quest for ‘beauty extreme’. The siphoning of all his accumulated sensory influences (with Celtic folklore and English carrot cake not being the least of them) would become the subtle recurring forms that now define his illustrations and paintings.
Guerra also draws heavy inspiration from harmony, melody, lyrics & sound, notably the vocal diaphaneity of simultaneously strong & dulcet feminine artists such as Loreena McKennitt, Kate Bush or Rachel Claudio (for whom Guerra designed the front cover of her recently released debut album); or even the rolling, ever-congested breathing of a little pug named Runa.
Speaking more specifically on a visual art level, the influence of heroic fantasy themes exercises itself most evidently in his more recent works, made undoubtedly manifest by his passion for illustration. The female subjects can at times resemble water-nymphs or other evanescent fairy creatures. This particular pictorial style is underpinned by the multiple mythologies of times past and times yet to pass. Contrary to many for whose work is steeped in sensuality, Guerra’s feminine evocations hold distinct notes of demureness & delicacy.
His appreciation for feminine beauty extends wide and eclectic, and can be seen in highly urban contexts, such as the aforementioned album cover for Rachel Claudio’s ‘Claudiography’ or his ‘An African Woman’ series, one of which was recently featured on a 12-metre-high wall in Shanghai on the South African pavillion of the 2010 International Expo.