The sgraffito technique is a traditional architectural ornamental technique used for decoration in plastering and wall cladding. On a technical level, it can be considered as a variety or type of engraving carried out on a stewed surface from two superimposed layers or colours that allow shapes or drawings to be revealed by removing or scratching the outer layer. The Path Of Stars is the new collaboration between Peri and Carola Carrot, an expert in the technique of sgraffito, in which Álcalis Studio has also participated. In this new mural, this traditional technique has been combined with a contemporary art discipline such as muralism, giving rise to this work.
This is a laborious technique in which, after applying several layers of lime mortar, some of which are mixed with pigment, the design is marked and certain areas are cut out. That is how the final appearance is generated, in which the cut-outs of the different layers contribute the various shades to the composition. In this case, due to the particularities of the environment in which the intervention was to take place, we decided to look for a design that would allude to the Camino de Santiago de Invierno, which passes through the area, and to the blacksmith’s shop that once stood in that place and of which elements such as the bellows or the vat are still preserved.
The result is this labyrinth in which a conceptual identification is established between the two, the path and the labyrinth, in which the pilgrim appears as a representative element of humanity as a whole and its search for knowledge in its multiple forms (spiritual, scientific, philosophical…). In addition, we sought to introduce, in the form of scenes, some elements of the environment represented with traditional forms of the sgraffito of the area in direct allusion to these trades, both the blacksmith and the sgraffito artist, which are gradually disappearing.
