Drawing Diamonds, 2015
68 fanzines, printed on different-coloured paper
Format: 21 x 15 cm

There are fanzines of two and six pages
50 cotton bags with the Drawing Diamonds logo
100 pins with the Drawing Diamonds logo

The central focus of Francesc Ruiz's residency was drawing, and nearly all the sessions that the artist conducted at the school focused on this art genre in one way or another, through a range of different materials. This constant was reinforced by the group's teacher, Mercè Gaja, who also devoted the so-called “third”, additional, hour to exercises related to drawing.

Outings were another important element in the residency. The group visited MACBA, the Fatbottom bookshop, Et Hall, an art gallery devoted to contemporary drawing, the Multiplobooks publishing company, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Ignasi Iglésias - Can Fabra library, Fabra i Coats - Art Factory and the Llotja Art School.

The first months were devoted particularly to studying experimental and underground comic books and to drawing exercises to help the young people lose their fear, a kind of warm-up for the project that would finally be developed as part of the residency.

Drawing Diamonds (http://drawingdiamonds.tumblr.com/) is, in the artist's own words:
Drawing Diamonds is an open publishing project which defends the possibility that each and every one of us are authors, we only need to put this idea into practice and throw ourselves into publishing.
Drawing Diamonds publishes the works of a group of young artists who have taken up drawing and comics with the freedom necessary for them to work with a huge variety of styles, themes and narrative approaches, all unique and exceptionally personal.
Drawing Diamonds aims to get all its publications to the neighbourhood, to the entire country, around the world, because we believe that we should not restrict the possibilities that distribution networks allow today.

The boys and girls in the group created the name and logo and the 68 fanzines that form this publisher's catalogue. Francesc Ruiz acted as the facilitator, the driving force and inspiration, behind all this.

The project was presented at an event that illustrates the whole sense of the work: and independent comic book show in the Sant Andreu neighbourhood itself. Graf, Author Comic and Independent Publishing Festival (http://grafcomic.com) took place at the Fabra i Coats Art Factory on May 22 and 23. There, the girls and boys saw their fanzines distributed in a real context, with a real audience, a real immersion in what it means to be an author and the responsibility entailed in showing your own creations.

What’s an artist like you doing in a school like this?
Experiment 2: Francesc Ruiz in Residence at the IES Dr. Puigvert
http://blog.museunacional.cat/en/whats-an-artist-like-you-doing-in-a-school-like-this/

An educational project developed by artists and young people.
See ANNEX: Video (short version) / Video (long version)