A few weeks ago a twenty-something Belgium backpacker known as "Spear" decided to add his unique brand of graffiti to the abandoned La Perla Hotel. Situated on a beautiful stretch of beach on the eastside of Isla the three-story tall La Perla Hotel was partially damaged during hurricane Gilberto, and finished off by hurricane Wilma in 2005. It has languished as a crash-pad for vagrants, a unsightly place littered with garbage and beer bottles.
Arriving on Isla, Corentin "Spear" Binard, discovered the crumbling structure and decided he would leave his mark there. For three wild days working in a frenzy of creativity he sprayed, splashed, dabbed, and painted. He created five large, animated portraits of friends on the south walls of the damaged hotel rooms, and two more the north end of the structure.
Born in Brussels in 1988, Binard "Spear" started out scribbling on the wooden benches at school, eventually studying architecture, before deciding he wanted to explore portrait painting further. He works with oil, acrylic, charcoal, graphite, watercolour, and yes, even ketchup when nothing else is available. His riotously creative brain looks for new ways to express brightness, contrast, and expressions of his subjects. His original plan was to continue the paintings on the third level, but with the lack of access to the upper floor, due to the hurricane damage, that plan never came to fruition. As of February 25th the La Perla Hotel has been under demolition, authorized by the City of Isla de Mujeres.
Did he bring too much attention to the sad, dangerous structure?
Spear has created similar portraits on the north coast of the Honduras, in a tattoo parlour in Belize in exchange for food and lodging, and in the jungles of Coast Rica while looking for new ideas and mediums. A loose translation from his website which is in both French and Spanish gives his mission statement; to leave my mark and live wild adventures! Sounds like a great plan!
Corentin "Spear" Binard
www.spearart.be
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We Move Forward 2012 - a 3 day International Women's Day conference taking place on Isla Mujeres March 8, 9 and 10, 2012 - is hosting a public Fiesta in the Square on Friday, March 9 from 8:30 to 11:30 pm. This Fiesta is being held in partnership with the Municipality of Isla Mujeres Gender Equality branch. There will be Live Music by Javiar's "The Band with No Name" and there will be Carnival Dance troupes to entertain the crowd during the band break. La Luna will have a bar set-up in the square to purchase drinks. Food vendors will be there to offer traditional Mexican Food.
We hope you will come out and Celebrate International Women's Day with us. Together we can show visitors to Isla a wonderful time in Isla's Zocolo. Viva Mexico!
4 comments:
Great photographs Lynda! Glad you documented it before the wrecking ball hit! It's interesting that the building came down so quickly after he decorated it.
It was just luck! I was in the Centro, on my way to get a hair cut and remembered hearing about the portraits. I must have just missed the artist, Spear, as the photo of him playing his guitar is from his website. It's dated the same day that I took the photos. Not sure why after so many years it suddenly had to come down - now!
I am glad I got the chance to see his paintings while on the island. They were truly awesome!
Hi Catrina - they are/were amazing.
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