Although the pandemic meant a forced break for the plastic artist Pako Pablos in various projects, the San Diego-based Guadalajaran decided to turn the circumstances around to take his artistic proposal to another level through technology and new approaches to the Hollywood film industry and festivals like Sundance.
Looking for a way not only to surprise his followers, but also to explore other opportunity niches in his painting —which has led him to portray the great figures of international sports and entertainment— Pako Pablos decided to integrate augmented reality into his firm, with the possibility that its paintings and clothing line provide a different experience to viewers.
“Everything arises because of COVID… I sought, as an artist, to adapt to the times so as not to remain static. I have always had the creativity and desire to make animations, to work on this type of graphics. Not being in events, that need to adapt arose and with my team we developed the APP, so we began to incorporate augmented reality into my work, starting with my clothing brand activating graphics”.
With the personalized development of his "Pako Pablos" APP, the artist achieved that through this digital tool the public can discover exclusive animations when the application detects his printed work on his line of t-shirts or his paintings, a format that progressively also will encourage entering the new art market through NFTs.
“The t-shirts in which we are making are for my love of basketball, they are graphics alluding to the sport, with warriors from ancient China, with masks and samurai uniforms. Everything has the context of him, each warrior has his mask and his form, just like in my paintings. The idea is to have all my collections with augmented reality”.
His foray into Hollywood
The film industry is increasingly present in the trajectory of Pako Pablos, as he is the Mexican artist who had a rather peculiar participation in the recent movie "Space Jam: a new era", a film directed by Malcolm D. Lee and starring the star player of the Los Angeles Lakers team, LeBron James, of whom a portrait made by the man from Guadalajara appears in the film produced by Warner Bros. Pictures.
"They contacted us to see the rights to be able to participate in the film, it is a huge achievement, because not all artists worldwide and less Latinos or Mexicans have original work in a Hollywood hit, for me it was a pride."
That his work has appeared in the famous "Bugs Bunny" movie represents a lot for Pako Pablos, because in addition to being a great admirer of basketball, the portrait he made of LeBron James, entitled "The promise", has a special story, because Although this work went viral on social networks and was nominated for The Global Art Awards 2021 in Tokyo, the piece was destroyed after being stolen from an exhibition.
Although the portrait of LeBron James could not be recovered, Pako Pablos recounts how the experience of the robbery made the work take on an even more special meaning, because although he did not want to replicate it again, he remained as a media witness when he recalled that "The promise ” was created by the promise that LeBron made at the time assuring that he would win the new championship for the Lakers, in 2016.
“The piece went viral and I was invited to an exhibition because I was the exclusive artist at a hip-hop festival in San Diego, and the work was stolen, which was 1.20 by 1.50 meters, it was big (…) we knew who it was. he took it and what had happened, but when the police caught who took it, he destroyed it, because he wanted to get rid of the evidence. The painting is gone and the only image left is the digital image, which we plan to release on NFT. All the history that this painting has is impressive and to have closed the trajectory of him in the LeBron James movie was incredible ”.
This approach to "Space Jam" leaves the possibility that Pako Pablos can establish new projects with the film industry, since he will also have a new link with the Sundance Film Festival, which as part of its activations in different cities such as San Diego , selected the man from Guadalajara as the guest artist for the meeting in the city, where during the closing weekend he will show the film community the proposal that he develops in animation and exclusive graphics in augmented reality.
During the month of April, Pako Pablos will return to his hometown with the aim of analyzing possibilities of undertaking projects in which he may have his pictorial talent involved, for which a meeting with Pablo Lemus, mayor of Guadalajara, is on the agenda. , because the artist has in mind not only to be able to hold an exhibition with the faces of talent from Guadalajara, but also dreams of holding a gala with a cause.
“I am looking for other city leaders to know my work as well, because I am proud of the place where I grew up, it was the place that gave me the foundation to be where I am. I am still standing to be able to make my exhibition of talents from Jalisco, like a gala night, because I have been related to charity associations, and part of my plan is to involve the Government, the private sector, all the people who want to help, especially to the talents that would be portrayed for this project”, indicates Pako Pablos when referring to the legacy that has marked figures such as: Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, Ximena Navarrete, the group Maná and Sergio “Checo” Pérez, for example.
