Pito Campos

If we walk around Córdoba and decide to stop at a kiosk to browse the morning news, we might come across a piece of art on the front page of a local newspaper. However, this will only be possible if we stroll through Córdoba, Argentina. Because there, every week, our Artist of The Station this summer, Pito Campos, an Argentine watercolorist, publishes an illustration on the front page of the newspaper.The New Morning.

Pito Campos is a painter, watercolorist, Argentine illustrator, and humorist, self-taught, who lives for and by his passion, drawing and mainly the watercolor technique. As a result, he works on landscapes, caricatured portraits of famous people, anonymous individuals, and illustrations of various types. Additionally, Pito stands out for the work he does at the newspaper where every week he displays a watercolor focused on a current topic. Probably, few newspapers do so much to promote art and watercolor.

Our artist this summer season, by the way, winter in Argentina, conducts in-person and online workshops. Certainly, he is an active social media user. You can also find him on the online learning platform.Domestika, where he has already published 3 courses on the initiation and improvement of watercolor technique, especially of urban landscapes. Moreover, a few years ago he promoted an in-person masterclass on watercolor, inviting the Uruguayan master of the technique and one of his references,Alvaro Castagnet.

Finally, while browsing, we found a charming portrait of our station artist for this summer 2022, painted by the Peruvian artistElis Omar Salas. We leave you the link to their Instagram, @salaselis0.

Photographs: David Delgado Ruiz

Half of what you hear – 2021 35 x 50 cm – mixed media on paper

I focus my art in a transversal way: my art is my life and my life is my art. The presence of watercolor is absolutely fundamental, it is the pillar, my voice that speaks or remains silent through the water. I find in its capabilities the way I like to express myself, but it is also the way I like to see the world.

I go a little beyond the purely technical side; I feel that I am in its philosophy. Because watercolor is not only the expression of images and their representation, but it also has aspects that are very unique, and it is with that nature that I feel a deep connection that goes beyond purely aesthetic matters.

Watercolor is absolutely fundamental, it is the pillar, my voice that speaks or is silent through the water.

The water that flows freely and builds things at will, the multiple states of the paper-pigment-water relationship that generate a random, surprising, and completely unique combination, the blotch that says little but expresses so much, the heterogeneity that is allowed and results from an inexhaustible richness, are some of the characteristics that make me feel identified and enchanted by this technique. If we let it be, the watercolor happens, and in that, there is magic.