The Mock Bull

Polychromos colour pencil on wood panel, 40cm x 60cm, 2024

While walking past an old ceramics factory in a quiet area of Seville, I encountered a group of young men who were practicing bullfighting. Guided by the older trainers, the men took turns role-playing as the bull and the torero. I was struck by their solemn and somehow theatrical movements and postures, as well as the contrast between their everyday clothes and the bright cloths they swirled about in response to each charge of the bull’s horns.