Alguero unleashes his talent in Asilah

ASILAH - On a sunny afternoon in the Atlantic coastal town of Asilah, six canvases sticking to each other and facing the clear sky are lying on the floor on a large plastic cover and surrounded by dozen paint containers.

Spanish artist Manu Alguero, who is taking part along with international artists in the Asilah International Cultural Moussem, chose the large terrace of the workshop’s first floor overlooking the Atlantic coast to unleash his talent.

Facing the sea, Alguero starts opening paint containers while the canvases are desperately waiting to be drenched after being set up one day before.

He turns to me and asks: “Are you ready to take the shots?”

I rushed to adjust my camera settings in order not to miss the long-awaited show.

The extrovert artist did not reveal what he would be painting. And the show begins.

Dressed in light cream linen trousers and a white shirt, Alguero starts splashing the sky blue paint at the canvases from different angles.

The action is both mesmerising and intriguing, but my camera is focused on his moves.

He then uses deep blue paint followed by white and black colours. His toes are filled with paint after taking off his Barcelona-printed thong sandals as a pride of his Catalan origins while he immerses in his piece of art.

The overall picture was getting a bit clearer for me. “You see I’m painting two happy intertwining faces,” he says as he starts highlighting the noses, mouths and eyes with a broom stick.

“I used blue and white colours to match Asilah’s,” he explains. “I usually use strong colours such as red in my daring artworks.”

A one-hour show that I have utterly enjoyed was priceless.