Martí Melcion: "Actually, I advocate for a life more about eating with wine."

Martí Melcion (Barcelona, ​​1995) is the illustrator of choice for young people in Barcelona. With a mischievous streak that doesn't preclude a tenderness for his surroundings, Melcion has captured much of the mood and daily life of his generation in his cartoons and animations. His collaboration with EVA (3Cat) has resulted in... Elma and her friends (Random Comics), which will be published in April.

I've seen Elma drinking a lot of beer, but I don't think I've ever seen her drinking wine.

— Maybe there was a glass of wine once in a while, but it's true that it's usually beer, because that's more my thing. I'm much more of a beer person than a wine person.

Is it a generational thing?

— My friends, in general, are beer drinkers. I do know some people who aren't as immersed in this culture of getting together to brew beer. in a way It's about picking a day of the week and saying, "Now we'll have a few beers." These people might be more like, "Oh, give me a glass of wine," and if they're up for it, maybe two, or maybe three. But yes: my universe revolves more around beer.

And within the family?

— My parents have always been big on enjoying wine with their meals. It's not that they drink a lot, but I've always been used to the idea at home, since I was little, that they eat with wine at meals—especially on weekends and at dinner.

But will you be having beer with lunch today?

— No, no. It's true that my parents have sometimes told me I have a less Mediterranean drinking culture than they do. I don't drink beer much at home. I never drink alone, I never drink at home, generally speaking. For me, it's associated with leisure, more than with my everyday identity.

Does the fact that you don't drink at home relate to the fact that your home is a workspace?

— I relate it a lot to this. I'm quite chaotic, very ADHD, and I think this is how I organize my life and cope. I'm very clear that my home space needs to be quite tidy. And I'm not complaining: I love a day of getting up, working all day at home, and then finishing the day watching a movie. But I do like to separate things: it's later, when I go out, that I loosen up, and then maybe I'll have three or four beers. No more than that, because then...

In other words, taking a break for vermouth and then going back to work is not an option.

— No… Since I'm self-employed, I might decide to work on a Saturday. I don't have that habit of saying, "Okay, it's Saturday, I'll have a beer at lunchtime and that's it." If I have one, I want it to last a while. I don't really like the feeling of being a bit…slice, SoDipsyand having to do something. If I had a beer or two on a Saturday and then had to work… I really like sobriety. And I think this is the slightly less Mediterranean thing about me: clearly separating sobriety and work from disinhibition and…decompression.

One of the things he draws are animated objects. How would he represent objects from the world of wine?

— I think I had considered it once, actually. I think it would be something more circuitous, perhaps. White wine leads me to something more...sparklingThe feeling of a Saturday with a frying pan, which is also very much a family thing. Red wine, something more nocturnal. But it would be cool, because some wines might have a more altered state of consciousness, others less so…

Where did you get the idea to animate objects?

— I remember when I was little, I took a game we had with European countries, and I traced them and gave them eyes and personalities. I imagined France as a gentleman like this, and Germany as a lady like that… I've always had a tendency to draw eyes, mouths, and noses on things. And what I always try to do is capture the essence of the object. pitysFor example. What does a cigarette inspire in me? Well, a bit of sadness. The city where they live pitys It's like a giant ashtray, everything is dirty… And the cafes gave me a feeling of productivity; that's why they take a train in the morning.

She mentioned white wine and a frying pan. Does she associate wine with elaborate meals?

— I associate it a lot with this: if we eat and make a meal hard workWell, we drink wine. But really, our parents drank wine with dinner even if they were eating potatoes and green beans. The thing is, my siblings and I haven't inherited that habit. Even though I'm the oldest, let's give them a little time.

Do you think it's being lost because we don't have as much of a culture of getting together to eat?

— I think there's also the issue of how difficult it is to become independent, whether alone or as a couple. If you've always lived with roommates and there isn't a strong tradition of saying "we all eat together on Saturdays," even if there's a good atmosphere, the tendency is for everyone to do their own thing; everyone makes their own lunch and dinner, and there isn't much opportunity to get together. If you're going to live with your partner, and you eat lunch and dinner together every day, perhaps you can start to have more of this wine-related moment, because it's something shared. Although it wouldn't be a big deal if someone poured themselves a glass of wine and said, "Good night."

The image of someone with a caper and a glass of wine in an office dining room…

— This is also true. Perhaps it was more common before. My father could easily pour himself a glass of wine in the university dining hall. When I was a professor at ESCAC, I seem to recall that sometimes, in the faculty dining room, someone might have a small glass of wine. But the cliché was there… Everything has become a bit like this: "Oh no, I'll have a glass of water." Actually, I advocate for a life where wine is enjoyed with meals. I was just remembering that…

Forward.

— A few years ago, at the end of the school year, the parents got together to give the teacher and her partner a gift: dinner at Els Pescadors. They said, "Well, she'll send us the bill for whatever they order." And I remember them saying, "Wow, they went to Els Pescadors, didn't order wine, and for dessert they ordered two coffees with milk." And that really stuck with me, because it's so little, really.enjoyerYou have the opportunity to eat seafood, which I think is what I would most associate with drinking wine, and nothing.

In the Ot Bou podcast, he spoke about the disappearance of his sentimental landscape in the Olympic Village, about how where the traditional horchata shops used to be, now there is a random bar.

— The experience of the Olympic Village isn't, I think, very similar to being from Barcelona. Well, it's kind of what anyone from Sants or Gràcia would say… But it's true that the Olympic Village is something strange, very strange. It feels odd to go there because it's a place that feels very ungainly to me. My parents don't live there anymore. There probably isn't a single one of the shops that used to be there. And I lost touch with all my friends from the neighborhood when I went to study art at the Massana high school; we're on good terms, but we're not really in touch. It's a neighborhood that has changed a lot, and at the same time, I don't have anyone to hang out with, so when I go, I don't feel like I'm going back anywhere. I go there and I don't really recognize it.

Has this somehow caused you to relate to places in a different way?

— I find it a bit difficult… I think I have a bit of a cold side, actually. I have friends from years ago and locks, but I don't have lifelong friends. I must say that, for me, it's ared flagIt's not like someone changes their group of friends every few months, like a constant turnover. I have friends I've had for over ten years, but I don't have that sense of continuity, of saying, "That person and I have seen each other grow up, we've become adults together." I think this has made me a bit more of a loner. I'm protective of myself.