The street is the largest art gallery in the world
Banksy
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For a couple of days, the art of Miki Noëlle (28) went viral.
–Were you famous? –I ask him while we talk in the Jaime Arias room of The Vanguard.
–It was fun! And I wish it were repeated! It won’t be for lack of ideas. I have lots of them…
(…)
It happened after Mallorca-Barça on December 3, through the work and art of Lamine Yamal. You see: everything this boy touches turns to gold, he is not even fazed by the uncertainty that surrounds his club.
After December 3, Lamine Yamal turned on his cell phone, went to his Instagram account and changed his profile photo. Since then, as a business card, there appeared the portrait that the good Miki Noëlle had dedicated to him, the same drawing that you can see in the image of this Round and round.
–Thanks to that one stickerI gained 10,000 followers on Instagram in no time.
(It has already exceeded 101,000).
–And what happened next?
–His agent called me, we talked for a long time. I told him that I would like to meet Lamine Yamal in person. He told me that maybe we’ll work on something in the future. We’ll see. The fact is that a little later Lamine Yamal had to remove the illustration: he removed it from the profile.
-And so?
–It turns out that Lamine Yamal has a contract with Konami. And I had drawn him with an L2+X, a move from the world of FIFA.
-Oh…!
–From now on I will be much more careful with those things. If a player is from Adidas, it would be better to draw him with Adidas on his feet.
Miki Noëlle, these days in Barcelona
–And what do you do with your stickers ?
He says he posts them on his networks.
And sometimes, he also hangs them in the streets.
–But not anywhere, eh? I’m not here to bother you. I will never hang them where they could interfere with public roads. I look for abandoned spaces or walls, or where there are already stickers. And I don’t want to be fined: I buy the cheapest sticker paper on the market, it tears off quickly.
“I have proposed to the club that they sell my stickers in the Barça Store for the anecdotal price of one cent.”
–And you have never been fined?
–On one occasion, a city guard recognized me and gave me the OK with his thumb. Barcelona is full of art.
–Isn’t there too much?
–There are destroyed buildings. There are people who want to put their art, but there are few places available. The city council should leave us more spaces and also promote them. Our art helps, stimulates tourism, beautifies the city. I have references that prove it.
–Like who?
–Think of Jason Polan or Keith Haring. Polan wanted to illustrate the people of New York, to show us how alive they were. And what about Banksy? TVBoy hung a spectacular mural with Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and Salma Paralluelo in Plaza Joanic! These things unite a fan like Barça’s.
Miki Noëlle shows me a range of illustrations.
Ferran Torres cleans Lamine Yamal’s boot. Claudia Pina finishes with her heel, like Cruyff did in 1973. This week, the city has woken up with a new sticker: Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor stay (eventually) at Barça.
-The stickersDo they give you money?
–For now there is no way. Barça won’t let me sell them. I have proposed to the club that they sell the stickers in the Barça Store at the anecdotal price of one cent. All this is complicated, the circuit is closed and if I post a sticker in Plaza Catalunya and I Instagram it, someone immediately goes and takes it. I wish Collboni would leave me a wall, or Barça, a space.
–And what does he live on?
–I have done things with Spotify, with Estrella Damm… I make my living from making illustrations for individuals. The portrait of a dog… I also design tattoos. On TikTok I uploaded videos and then they offered me jobs.
–What if Madrid comes to you and makes you a good offer?
–Noooo, man. To Madrid, not crazy. My representative tells me that I should open up more, that I am wasting my work. But I am faithful to my values. I want to be an icon of the club, as it is l’avi of Barça.
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#Miki #Noëlle #Barça #icon #lavi
