Dani Alves and Pedri Collaborate with Fert to Paint the Barça Team Bus

The Catalan writer Fert One coordinated a participatory project to paint the bus used by Fútbol Club Barcelona, a team with a rich tradition of creative collaborations

Photos courtesy of Fert and FCB.
 

Without doubt, one of the most emblematic institutions from our home in Catalunya is Fútbol Club Barcelona, also known as Barça. The team is famous worldwide for its success at home and abroad, its development of young talent and its association with the Catalan identity. However, there is also a creative tradition at the club that sets it apart from the other giant teams. Local artists have collaborated with Barça for decades, and the latest artist to be chosen comes with a background in graffiti. 

Jordi Comas aka Fert is originally from Cabanes, a small town in Alt Empordà near the border with France. He started painting graffiti in 2008 and since then he’s carried out mural projects all over Europe, South America and the United States. He was responsible for overseeing a collaborative project to decorate the team bus with the help of several groups that form part of the FCB family. Montana Colors was obviously delighted to support the project, which Fert breaks down in this interview.

How would you explain your relationship with Barça before starting this project? 

I’ve never been a big football fan, but as a Catalan I’ve always identified with the values that the club represents. In 2013 I collaborated with Barça for the first time on the occasion of the the Special Olympics.

How was the collaboration process? 

One day I got an email with a proposal to work on a cool project, without many more details. They called me and told me that they were interested in my profile to carry out a project together with players from the club and from there we developed the idea.

What is the final concept produced? 

It all started with wanting to design a unique and groundbreaking bus, using urban art techniques. We wanted it to be different from any coach ever used by a soccer team. Inspired by the club slogan "Més que un club" (More than a club), the idea evolved and we created a participatory work of art, proposing a "blank canvas", in which the Culers (Barça fans) could leave messages of support for the players that they could take with them wherever they went.

We understand that you have worked with Barça, the Fundació FCB and FCB Genuine, right? What did each of these entities contribute to the project? 

Each entity pulled their weight to create this piece, both in the conceptual stage and at the level of execution. 

In short, I would say that they contributed values, structure and meaning to the action. Without them all, there would have been no reason to create this work.

What was the most difficult part of producing a piece with so many people involved? 

Working with foundations and organizations like Barça, with what that represents, forces you to add a lot of figures to the equation. The design has to take the production into consideration and its possible complications, the durability of the work, compliance with very strict corporate image guidelines, how participants are going to use spray paint with its virtues and limitations, safety and environment, how to transform a blank canvas into a Barça bus in a few hours, and so on. 

It was quite a challenge, since nothing could be left to chance, but also an opportunity to do the perfect job.

What was the most satisfying part? 

Definitely bringing together such different groups through art. It is always enriching to teach art to newbies using spray paint, but even more so taking into account the passion for football and the emotion of painting with and for their idols. The satisfaction of that moment was priceless and is reflected in the result of the project.

What did you learn from FCB during the process? 

Probably rigor, values ​​and opportunities. How, in football, anything is possible if you have a good team and you know how to get the best out of it.

Sports and art don’t usually have much in common, but Barça may be an exception thanks to its historical collaborations with artists like Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies. What do you think graffiti can bring to the culture of the club? 

Artists who paint walls, trains or whatever, have the same passion as a child who plays soccer: we want to get together with your friends and do something that moves you. It’s a matter of feeling. 

The concept of the project was to bring the figure of the football player into perspective, so that the public can appreciate them as one of their own. 

When Barça collaborated with Miró or Tàpies, it gave them prestige. I think that working with graffiti can give Barça passion.

Check out the video of the process and the final results here.