GABRIEL TRUSTRAM

BACKGROUND

Gabriel (@gabrieltrustram) is a visual artist and works primarily with printmaking and drawing. He was born and raised in Spain and currently lives in Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz). He first came to Galicia 15 years ago as a student at the Fundación CIEC, where he now teaches and recently, in May 2026, had an exhibition, “Postales de un Viaje en Bicicleta (Postcards from a Bicycle Trip)”. Gabriel describes the trip as follows: “Last year, I mounted a small printing press onto my bicycle and travelled from my hometown of Vejer de la Frontera, in Cádiz, through Portugal to Betanzos. Along the way, I produced a series of postcard-sized prints depicting the places I passed through, which I gifted to people I met. This experience allowed me to explore printmaking beyond the studio, using it as a way to engage with my surroundings, record impressions and connect with people and places.” 

For Gabriel, “making art is a form of research—a hands-on way to process the things in the world that don’t sit right with me. The works featured on the previous page are rooted in utopian thought and architecture, exploring the idea that utopias are, by definition, impossible dreams. As imagined blueprints for a better world, they look to the past, critique the present, and project alternative futures all at once. They represent aspirational models that ultimately missed the mark or fell apart—ranging from grand structures left in ruins to strange, mutated arquetypes that evolved slightly askew.”

Gabriel continues by saying that his “creative process is largely intuitive. I engage with my emerging work through increasingly detailed shapes and lines, allowing organic, mechanical, and intricate forms to take shape. My drawings, prints, and collages begin as sketches before undergoing a lengthy journey of playful exploration. During this process, I add, remove, and rearrange elements, subverting common associations and forging new relationships  allowing the work to evolve in unpredictable directions.”

GABRIEL´S DO PICHO PROJECT

During my time at Do Picho, I intend to bring together my interest in utopian visions with an exploration of the local landscape and projects that could fundamentally alter it. Using my portable printing press, I will gather visual and material information from my surroundings, collecting testimonies from locals as well as impressions and fragments to inform a new body of work. Through drawing, printmaking and collage, I hope to transform these elements into imagined structures and speculative landscapes. I see this residency as an opportunity to explore the relationship between place and imagination, while continuing to use printmaking as a means of observing, interpreting and connecting with the world around me. In December, I will be mostly at Do Picho and in the Ulloa, while in January I expect to go back and forth between Do Picho and CIEC Foundation in Betanzos, whose facilities I will use to print.