What Joan Aguiló looked like, according to his partner: “Between his long hair and the fact that he was thin, he looked like Jesus Christ.”

PalmA bacterial infection complicated his birth in November 1983, an illness that severely hampered his childhood. Nothing, however, prevented that boy from Palma, who spent entire summers and weekends in Can Picafort, from running joyfully over the rugged rocks by the coast and being a restless soul, constantly darting up and down the beach with his cousins, a good-sized group of mischievous kids: "They grew up in a community, above all, a community, above all, a community of people. They'd come out of the water with a splash." One of those mischievous cousins ​​is the visual artist Joan Aguiló, and his partner, the actress Catalina Inès Florit, tells us about him. They met amidst the blue and sand hues of summer. Joan is four years older than Catalina, but they've known each other all their lives because their godparents were neighbors on the same terrace in Can Picafort—in this town, the terraces open onto the street, a feature that fosters close relationships with neighbors. "We grew up together, along with his cousins. His paternal godmother, for me, was Aunt Ángela," says Catalina, who as a child saw Joan as "the nice older cousin." Over the years, Joan began to amuse her and her friends: "We were teenagers and he was studying Fine Arts in Barcelona. He had long hair and a bohemian air about him," she recounts, and remembers that, "between his long hair and the fact that he was very thin, my brother called him Jesus Christ."

Catalina explains that Juan's connection to visual expression stems from his mother's profession as an art teacher, and from a very young age, they did many crafts together. "On Saturday mornings, she would want to sleep, and he would wake her up to do crafts. His mother has a great deal of patience and dedication." The actress also highlights Joan's "determined" character, illustrating it with an anecdote: "As a child, he was enrolled in the La Salle swimming club. He and his brother were very good swimmers, but he developed a hand allergy and wasn't very happy about swimming. He told his mother that no one had asked him to give him the teacher's card. When he finally got it, he took it to his mother and said, 'I don't want to swim, I want to go to painting class.'"

"And he's still like that," says Catalina: discreet when resolving conflicts, calm, and collected. According to the couple, everyone who knows Joan agrees: "He's more at peace with himself than anyone. We friends tell him, half-jokingly, that he's a Zen master, and that he's living his last life. He's worked hard to become the person he wants to be. He's the wisest person I know," the actress reflects.

We return to his childhood and youth in Can Picafort, an experience that has undoubtedly marked Aguiló's work: "I think his entire imagination comes from those summers. That's where he was completely happy: cousins, godparents, the sea, macaroni... He has a very idealized view of it. For us, it was idyllic when we were little." In the background, the music and lyrics of Extremoduro, a band his older brother introduced him to.

For a time, Aguiló and Florit lived in Berlin. One day they made a tour of urban art. Juan suddenly had the idea of ​​taking that project to Mallorca, and upon arriving on the island, he started making stencils and placing them around the streets, without any expectations. Catalina accompanied him many times and remembers a conversation between her, Juan, and another friend: "It was early morning in Plaça dels Patins. We were talking about whether he should sign with a pseudonym or his real name. Since it was urban art… my friend and I said a pseudonym was better. What he wanted was clear: he wanted to put his name on it." And he was so lucky that he knew exactly what he wanted.