Interview with Ricardo Romero: The Visionary Artist behind ‘Vamos?!’ Sculpture in Setúbal

GraffitiStreet

What inspired you to create the 'Vamos' sculpture, and what message did you aim to convey through it?

Ricardo Romero

The sculpture” Vamos?!” is part of the poem “Either this or that” by the great Brazilian poet Cecília Meireles, which talks about a child’s choices towards the future. Local culture, the concept of place and the infinite possibilities of how time occupies space are fundamental towards infinity. (travel/life)

GraffitiStreet

Can you describe the process of creating such a monumental piece like "Vamos"? How long did it take to complete?


Ricardo Romero

This type of work requires enormous planning with the institutions, which means that the times are always longer than what is desired.

Between planning and implementation of the work we can be talking about 12 months. At the process level, it is a sculpture that involves several contemporary techniques, such as 3D modelling using contemporary materials (resins/fibreglass) with a structure entirely made of steel.

GraffitiStreet

How did you choose the location for the sculpture, and what significance does it hold in relation to the artwork's message?

Ricardo Romero

The place where the sculpture is located is called Avenida do Brasil… therefore, the choice of the Brazilian poet.

Then there is the train and bus station on the same avenue, which made perfect sense to me given the large movement of people.

GraffitiStreet

The sculpture features a young child playing with a graffiti train on
a figure 8 train track. What symbolic significance does this imagery
hold in relation to the theme of time and space?


Ricardo Romero

The child we see in this piece symbolically represents this timeless criterion: the innocence of a welcoming space where you can grow, evolve or return to your origins with the same joy that children play with. In the child’s hand, a train offers a journey through the imagination.

GraffitiStreet

The poem "Either this or that" by Cecília Meireles is included in
the description of the artwork. How does it tie into the concept of the sculpture and the message it conveys?

Ricardo Romero

The poem talks mainly about this possibility of choices/dreams. How are we conditioned, or not, by them? “… Whoever goes up in the air does not stay on the ground; whoever stays on the ground does not go up in the air. It’s a great shame that you can’t be in both places at the same time!”

GraffitiStreet

In what ways do you feel the "Vamos" sculpture honours the dialogue between the timelessness of local culture and the concept of place in Setúbal?

Ricardo Romero

As we observe in everyday life, time eternalized in space, inserted in the culture of modern societies, gives rise to countless benefits that promote an interactive, playful and well-being activity with the surrounding environment.

The sum of all these factors means that Setubal can continue to have and present a differentiating artistic offer in public space. In this context, the sculpture “Let’s go?!” fits perfectly.

GraffitiStreet

How do you think the sculpture contributes to the cultural landscape of Setúbal and its surrounding environment?

Ricardo Romero

Being in a public space, it ends up having a very strong dialogue with everything that surrounds it. For me, the scale of the relationship between the sculpture and the surrounding landscape marks the meeting between the public and the key element of the proposal, in its irregularities and between the lines spatiotemporal.

GraffitiStreet

What challenges did you face while creating the "Vamos" sculpture, and how did you overcome them?


Ricardo Romero

The challenges in this type of project are mainly related to bureaucratic issues that are not always easy to solve. Trying to do something “new” and in an “unconventional” way doesn’t make it any easier in terms of the process either, but for me, this will always be the great strength of my body of work, which is trying to do something “different” from what I’ve done throughout my life, whether in sculpture, painting, installation, or even video.

GraffitiStreet

How do you see the relationship between the child's representation of timeless criterion and the concept of space and time in the context of
the sculpture?


Ricardo Romero

In childhood, we are much more naive in relation to our positioning in this physical space.

What I intend with this sculpture is to reinforce the idea of ​​using time in accordance with space; perpetual movement and cultural development intertwine in different ways points of our life, which doesn’t reveal the imperceptible value of the external places that live within us – from where we benefit from our time, here and now.

GraffitiStreet

What do you hope viewers take away from experiencing the "Vamos"
sculpture, and how do you envision it impacting the community and visitors to Setúbal?

Ricardo Romero

I hope that each one can “travel” towards the infinite possibilities that it metaphorically presents to us :) my interest in the devices of Time, clearly highlighted in this piece, comes from the need to explore the visual and perceptual barriers that arise from the binomial human/time and, consequently, the poetic and metaphorical relationships that result.