Chapter 05

PEPO MORENO x mid/night 00.00

Words by: Inés Bigas & PEPO MORENO | Pictures By: Martin Linares

PEPO MORENO

Pepo was born and raised in Tarragona, an important port Catalan city near Barcelona. He moved to Barcelona to study a degree in Advertising and Communication and specialised himself in screenwriting.

After his studies, the artist made of Berlin his home for four years, where he became much of who he is today.Currently, he is living in Paris, dedicating himself entirely to the development of his artistic career.

Pepo's curiosity with the world of cosmetics and aesthetics is what made him connect with mid/night 00.00 from the start, since then, we have not ceased to find common ground.

01/11
PEPO MORENO X mid/night 00.00

Solid Collection by PEPO MORENO

The brain needs to generate ideas. In your case, how do you make that happen?

We live submerged in a world full of references, both artistic and from other nature, but I am very prone to self-reference.

I work from my experience, from my person, from my life. In most of my work I use humour as a connector thread between my work and the viewer.

References such as John Waters or Pedro Almodóvar have influenced my career because of the way they treated humour and jokes in a claiming way.

02/11
PEPO MORENO X mid/night 00.00

PEPO MORENO event launch

“In most of my work I use humour as a connector thread between my work and the viewer.”

PEPO MORENO X mid/night 00.00
03/11

…humour and claiming jokes?

Yes, humour for many of us, helps to express ourselves and get through the rough times. We have to make fun of ourselves, otherwise you won't survive in this world.

How would you describe your sense of humour?

I have a wacky sense of humour; I think I'm funny.

04/11

Solid Collection x PEPO MORENO

Seeing your work, I conclude that your ideals or way of thinking are reflected in them. Is it so? Aren't you afraid of pouring your entire artistic world into your personal life?

I work from my beliefs and experience, but also from chance and coincidence. I don't consider myself a particularly activist person, but I like to protest through the act of creation and the absurd. I feel comfortable talking about my experiences, using humour and creating a dichotomy between important topics and others which are more absurd.

05/11
PEPO MORENO X mid/night 00.00

“I don't consider myself a particularly activist person, but I like to protest through the act of creation and the absurd.”

PEPO MORENO

Limited edition poster by PEPO MORENO

06/11
PEPO MORENO x mid/night 00.00

Is TOT ÉS GAI an activist work?

Everybody can see things from the perspective they want, so I suppose so, also in an activist way.

You can read the work from a very demanding and purely activist point of view, but there is also a much more banal and absurd reading. It can make you laugh, or you can see it as a message with a background.

I like that dynamic… thanks to the repetition of “TOT ÉS GAI”, when you see all the pieces together, a mosaic is formed and the message looks much more solid and provocative. If you feel like going deeper into that third layer of protest, you can do it; for me, it's fun.

07/11
PEPO MORENO X MID/NIGHT 00.00

Let’s rewind, how did TOT ÉS GAI come about?

I created the first series of it for an exhibition that I presented at the end of 2021. I was happy with the result; I was interested in the different ways in which people understood the work and I decided to continue with it.

It was clear to me that for this exhibition I wanted to present a large series collected by the same and consistent principle. By cracking jokes, I began to imagine a world to my measure where everything was gay and the heterosexuality was no longer the norm, but the opposite: the exceptional. There are certain things that, by default, belong to the straight world and not to the gay world and vice versa.

With this piece I want to highlight that things are just that things, and no matter how obsess we are over naming them because they are still being the same things. Nothing and no one belong to a way of living, a way of loving or a way of thinking. Everything has an identity and therefor has a soul. Because of that, I also put a face on them, because I think it's important to give them this humanoid look by endowing them with a spirit. The moment you give them a sexuality, you provide them with a force and a life.

08/11
PEPO MORENO X MID/NIGHT 00.00

Values ​​such as nature, inclusion and not differentiating by gender are very influential for mid/night 00.00. How do these concepts influence your work?

Without a doubt, each one of them is impregnated both in me and in my work. What makes it more interesting is that we both do it from different points of view. As for me, I give life to nature by endowing it with an identity and a sexuality.

09/11

To achieve good results, in mid/night 00.00 we design our products to be used routinely and in order. Does it have something in common with the way you work?

It is important to follow a methodology to achieve a coherent and solid work. To do this, I start producing three weeks before the exhibition, painting between five and seven hours a day every day. I paint, dry and varnish. It becomes a ritual, a systematic production.

10/11

Why, then, has collaboration taken place with mid/night 00.00? What do we understand by it?

I have a special affection for the world of cosmetics. I worked on it for many years. I also feel a weakness and respect for natural and genderless cosmetics: I don't understand them any other way. The transparency and nudity of your products and the naive point of innocence move me. Finally, and oddly enough, I only use solids in my routines.


11/11
pepo moreno x mid/night 00.00