5 Things We Learned... Carlos Peñalver

Carlos Peñalver is a Spanish artist based in London. Born in Alicante, Carlos studied architecture between Alicante, Ljubljana, and Shanghai. Over the last two years, he has developed a career as a mural artist, installing artwork at brands and institutions such as the London School of Economics, Montcalm East hotel (Culture A project!), and City Point, among many others. His signature, organic black and white line drawings maintain a loose but detailed styled, which reveals figurative and botanical forms in quite distinctive ways.

Here are 5 Things We Learned about Carlos.

What made you...you?

My parents. My siblings. A rootless childhood of migrants, in a rootless seaside small town like Alicante. A creative family of actors and artists with lots of cousins. Shanghai. My wife gave me a completely different approach to life too. More grounded. To work as an architect for many years. A need for creating and drawing from as early as I can remember. A need of being constantly out of my comfort zone and to be surrounded by the new. A joy for the unknown and an eagerness for whatever makes me feel like a child that still discovers things.

When are you happiest?

When I’m drawing. When I’m writing. When I’m telling stories. I used to love reading, I haven’t read a book in the last 5 or 6 years. When I make people laugh. Invent stories. Talk about scriptwriting. Talk about peoples’ lives. When I try to understand peoples’ thoughts. To talk about psychology. About the future. About ideas in general. When I’m eating with friends. When I’m in the sun. In the sea. When something surprises me.

Would you rather have a muse or be a muse?

I would always prefer to have a muse and have someone to learn from.

Who do you admire?

I remember admiring my older brother. I used to admire a long jump athlete when I was a kid too. And that’s all. I’ve admired my wife ever since I met her. I admire peoples’ values. I admire artists like Picasso, Miró, the architect Enric Miralles. Their work. Their ideas. I do admire nature every single minute. Our bodies. Our existence. I admire philosophers and physics and everyone who tries to understand who we are and to grasp a bit beyond.

What is important?

To be healthy. To be loved. That’s it. To have a passion that moves you towards something. To have something to fight for. To have a purpose.