I have always been fascinated by the work of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the master of the cosmic horror genre, and after a recent re-read of his works, I decided to bookmark some tales that I thought had great potential to be illustrated. It was a “I’ll do this someday” kind of project. In October 2024, I went to an exhibition held in the Escuela Casa del Artista, which is part of the Museo de Arte Costarricense. There, a lot of things started to fall into place. I saw a lot of projects hanging on the walls, from current students, and just by being there, I knew I had to start working on one of the many projects I had in store, most of which, are still just ideas lying around. Seeing these works of art, many of them woodcuts, having the opportunity of being there and also, thinking about how most of my work has always been digital only, shrouded in secrecy by non disclosure agreements and most of the time, owned by big companies, I decided it was time to go back to basics and do something with my hands. Because of passion, because I wanted to do it and was inspired. No meetings, feedback, or deadlines involved. Then, in November of the same year, I started this big project which I had kept postponing.
I think its important to remember that, we all live in the digital world, whether we like it or not, but what I started to think back then is that once you close your laptop at the end of the day, none of that exists. Once you turn off your phone, none of the things that I have designed in my career exist anymore. It’s all gone. So I decided to do something about it, and combined my long lost love of traditional woodcut techniques with the literature I enjoy the most. And yes, I’m one of those people that prefer the physical book over the digital one!
To me, a woodcut print is almost like a primitive way of graphic design. After all, you have to plan for it, design it, draw it, make sure you’re making everything inverted so the final print ends up looking correctly, and then you have to print it. And graphic design, as a profession, for most of the time has had a big focus on printed materials. This is how I learned to design back in the day, always with the printed output in mind. This was of course, a great way to go back, complete a long postponed project, and leave something tangible that would not disappear once the power is turned off.
Things were going smoothly, but in January 2025, I crashed one of my motorcycles and my left hand was badly injured. I thought it would be impossible to complete all the prints, and I also had a commitment with the gallery. But the only thing you can do with any situation is to decide how to react, and I decided to keep going, maybe a bit slower than before, but I was not going to stop at all. The good thing is that I’m right handed and my friends helped me a lot. Thanks Alepo and Juank, without you guys, none of this would have been possible. Now I’m doing well! Back working in the corporate world, doing everything by myself, and I can’t wait to go for a ride again. My bikes and the road are waiting for me.
And of course. The project is finished, right on time. 7 woodcuts, 13 prints of each. Prime numbers to follow Lovecraft’s love for the unusual, the weird. And what better way to launch this website than with this! This website itself it’s been one of those projects that ave been postponed for long, because life keeps happening. But I’m not wasting any time, no more. I didn’t waste any while I was temporarily one handed, so there are no more excuses.
—tavo
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