This year, the Arts & Letters Awards did not want to miss out on their work of recognition of the people who make culture one of the main values of Aragon.
Thus, in its 6th edition, the awards of this supplement have distinguished in the category of 'Children's and Young People's Literature', to Alberto Gamónillustrator and former student of the Escuela Superior de Diseño de Aragón.
It was "a very exciting surprise" for Alberto Gamón to win the Artes y Letras prize in the category of Children's and Young People's Literature. Gamón points out that "the work of the illustrator is solitary and tends to go unnoticed", which is why he says that recognition is so appreciated, especially if it comes from a jury as authoritative as the one for these awards.
The prize-winner points out that his drawings are not aimed at a specific audience: "It is often said that a picture book is a book, even for children".The different visual readings reach both adults and children. Thus, his mantra "to illustrate is to tell" applies to all his work.The reader is given different codes depending on the book or his or her own moment in life, regardless of the reader's age.
Among Gamón's most recent work, highlights the illustration from the late John Reed's book 'Mexico Insurgente'. and his collaborations as a cover artist with publishers such as Contraseña and Xordica. "My work begins with a first reading and by the time I want to realise it, I'm already inside the book," he explains. With the drawings for 'México insurgente', for example, he admits to having spent more time documenting than sitting down to draw.
To be a good illustrator you have to be a good reader, as I understand it," the illustrator argues. You like the covers of a book at first, but if after reading it you find that connection with the cover, you generate more complicity".
Gamón also took the step of setting up his own publishing house with a group of book-loving friends: "Ediciones Sin Pretensiones I would say is the alternative to complaining, to that eternal lamentation that we have in the sector," he says.
Currently, the illustrator is working on a project in the Ribera Baja del Ebro called Rayuela.He is also working with other illustrators, drawing murals in degraded spaces that are converted into playgrounds. He is also finalising a calendar with other colleagues on the theme of equality and art, which is due to be distributed to schools.
