Joan Turu: "I consider myself a total anti-capitalist"
The Catalan illustrator explains his relationship with money and work.
An illustrator of children's murals throughout Catalonia, a writer of children's stories, and a natural communicator since birth. Among many other things, this is what Joan Turu (Sant Just Desvern, 1984) does to earn a living. In fact, he was very bright as a child: "My parents always said, 'That child will never go hungry.'" To buy the comics he liked, at age 12 he looked for odd jobs to earn his first money: "I offered to walk the neighbors' dogs," he explains in an interview withCompanies.
Turu studied art in high school and began his career in advertising. He didn't like the approach taken at university and ended up studying illustration. He has a long career illustrating books, t-shirts, vinyl decals, and school murals: "I used to do two schools a month, now I do one because I really want to do it." This provides him with a stable minimum income each month, especially now that he's enrolled in a course to write a young adult novel. "Currently, I have a three-year waiting list if all the schools that have asked me still want me when their turn comes," explains the artist, who spends about two days teaching the workshop with the children.
In fact, Turu could bring more people onto the team and take on more projects, but that's not how he works: "I do all the work myself; I don't hire anyone." He considers "answering an email just as important as painting," and the artist wants to be involved in the entire creative process. "If people are happy with it, they end up recommending it. Word of mouth has worked best for me," the writer says.
Turu is highly critical of the economic system: "I consider myself a total anti-capitalist. This is a system far removed from what life is," he emphasizes. He asserts that we should put care and life at the center. He believes that money is useful as a medium of exchange, but the current system "is profoundly unjust," since everyone should have the same opportunities and shouldn't be able to "speculate with money or with basic rights such as housing": "I I believe in universal basic income; everyone should be able to have the minimum to live on," and from there, whoever wants to get rich should work more.
In the art world, capitalism also dictates the rules of the game: "Your art is tied to market forces; your salary depends on whether you show up or not. It's incredibly perverse." "I long to pick up a pencil for the sheer pleasure of it," the illustrator explains. In his case, he has enough work to be able to reject proposals that don't suit him: "If I see that something doesn't make me feel fulfilled, I have the privilege of being able to say no." "Although everyone has their inconsistencies," he clarifies. For example, Turu sometimes accepts well-paid projects from city councils so he can later pursue others more in his own style: "The key is finding the balance." And not doing anything that makes him feel completely uncomfortable.
Making a living from art
On the other hand, Turu feels fortunate to be able to dedicate himself solely to art because it's difficult to do so in this sector. Initially, the communicator combined his job as a lunch monitor with that of an artist until one day he took the plunge: "It's worked out well, but at that moment I let go of one vine without being sure if I could grab onto another. I didn't know if I could continue making a living from this." Furthermore, he asserts that work has value: "No one should work for free." "I work with love, I work with art, but I don't work for the love of art. There has to be an exchange." The work requires effort, and often in this sector, since it involves "painting," remuneration is overlooked: "We must raise the self-esteem of the profession. We can't be paid in exchange for visibility."
Furthermore, the reward isn't measured in hours: "My salary doesn't depend on the hours I dedicate to it." "I think it's fairer to be paid in royalties rather than for the work itself." Everyone should get rich in the same way; we should lose and win equally. Regarding personal finances, he's not a planner: "If we have the money, we do it; if we don't have it, we don't do it." For example, if he can't invest in a new vinyl collection right now, he'll do it later.
