Hugáceo Crujiente, the ‘drag queen’ that walks the halls of the Thyssen | Culture | EUROtoday

A drag queen walks the corridors of the Thyssen Museum in Madrid through the mornings of the final weekend of every month. She appears to have escaped from a portray: she wears a hat with a protracted purple feather, a gold corset that accentuates her small waist, balloon calypso sleeves, leggings on her wrists, 4 stockings on her legs, and heels that click on when she walks. It is Hugo Díaz (30 years outdated, Madrid), the information who, underneath the stage title Hugáceo Crujiente, steals everybody’s consideration when he walks as if floating via the museum.

After midday on Saturday, December 27, the second group of the day begins to assemble within the museum foyer. There are many younger individuals, but additionally some older ones, who wait with a smile on their faces. “How lucky we are,” says one in every of them. They are the 25 choose attendees who managed to join the journey with Crunchy Hugáceo earlier than the tickets had been bought out. It isn’t tough to identify the information in his colourful apparel. He is accompanied by Roberto, his boyfriend and assistant, to whom they sing Happy Birthday with the heat of those that have recognized one another earlier than. For Hugáceo, the expertise of every tour is a curler coaster. He is all the time very excited, but additionally an “intruder behind his head” that reminds him that he’s not an artwork historian and his coaching is self-taught. Yes, examine rather a lot. “Because of my bad memory, I always take my notes in case I miss a date. I want to say things correctly, and if I don’t know a date, I don’t say it,” he says.

Days earlier than the tour, whereas ingesting orange juice within the cafeteria on the identical place, the artist recalled the start of his story. From a middle-class Madrid household, artwork got here into his life within the type of books about mythology. He started drawing the characters after which studied a bachelor’s diploma in Fine Arts and a Higher Degree in Illustration on the EASD in Segovia. He tried Graphic Design on the identical establishment in Valencia, however deserted it within the second 12 months as a result of he did not prefer it. the world drag He found it working in a membership as public relations. The inspiration for creating Crunchy Hugáceo was Liz Dust, one other drag of the Valencian night time who through the day gave guided excursions at modern artwork exhibitions: “It made me clic connect both worlds.”

In 2021 he participated within the first season of the tv program Drag race España. Later, Thyssen known as him to be a jury within the competitors #VersionaThyssen, which invitations younger creators and creatives from all around the world to reinterpret works from the gathering. In 2022, the establishment requested him to be the creative director of the primary float {that a} public museum assembled for Madrid Pride. When he already felt that there was belief with the workforce, he advised they take guided excursions and the check was at a Christmas get together in 2023. “I hit the wall. I wanted to take a visit reading four things, but no, I had to study,” he remembers. Then they reached an settlement to enhance it and make it on the finish of that 12 months, in October 2024 and for these underneath 35 years of age, with the theme centered on himself: why is Hugáceo Hugáceo?

“Follow the bald transvestite,” he says within the Thyssen foyer to start the tour. The first cease is The abduction of Europe by Simon Vouet, the place along with explaining the portray and beginning with a critique—“Zeus [protagonista de la pintura] “It’s as bad as patriarchy and a man without limits can be” – he details his own beginnings in art. Everyone who enters the space turns their eyes to him. “It’s very fun to see people’s faces when I pass by,” he says with humor. “Enjoy transvestism inside a museum, which is rarely seen.”

The second station is The death of Jacinto, by Giambattista Tiepolo, one of his favorite paintings. “When I started researching I found stories queer “That were not told, so I focused on making them visible and illustrating them,” he said days ago in the cafeteria. In this work he tells the love story of Jacinto and Apolo in a histrionic way, with laughter from the audience and a lot of salsa.

Part of what he seeks with his work is to question the narrative that has predominated in art, not only rediscovering minority stories, but also challenging the creators. “There are some very interesting layers that must be made visible. Maybe this painter was not a good person and mistreated women, maybe he is appropriating something that was not his and as a privileged person he has taken all the credit,” reflects the artist, who in his tour includes works by Picasso, although he does not hide his lack of sympathy for the painter.

Fashion is also one of her great passions. During the visit, clothes are changed to relate them to the works. He does the same on social networks when he mixes fashion with art history; for example, with a video in which he related outfits worn by the singer Chappell Roan with Thyssen paintings. Thus, it combines pop with what new generations may not know, although its audience is not limited to the youngest.

The first to sign up for their visits were members of the Amigos Thyssen program, who already knew about the collection. They attended out of curiosity, to know what else could be told—or in what way—in a museum with almost 30 years of history. But not all the reception was positive. “[Cuando anunciaron las primeras visitas] they arrived mails of people complaining without even knowing what they were saying.” According to him, this reaction was due to the fact that he uses a lot of humor in the promotional videos. “Taking yourself seriously is not being serious. I take art and what I do very seriously, but it can be done in a humorous tone, nothing happens. We can smile, we can enjoy.”

He has not had different unfavourable experiences in his collaboration with the establishment, maybe as a result of – he attributes – his proposal drag isn’t the standard “big breasts and wig”: “My drag It is a different, chewed way of talking about art. You take it seriously, but it doesn’t sound boring, institutional, like an audio guide.” With his work he desires to indicate that drag is way more than a present disco “It is also and we have to value it, because we come from there and it is a safe space that we preserve,” he says, “but the range is bigger.”

Once the tour is completed, Hugáceo takes pictures with whoever asks, whether or not or not they’re a part of the go to. After posing, he sits on a bench and displays on his subsequent tasks: he has already made 5 or 6 official visits for Thyssen, now on maintain whereas he prepares others for these over 35 years of age. The excursions of the final weekend of every month are on their very own they usually put tickets on sale the primary weekend of the month in query on their Instagram account. They have a worth of 40 euros that features the headphones, the ticket fee and their charges.

The artist’s new 12 months begins with a tour of Spain for his podcast While you had been doing all of your eyeliner and he doesn’t rule out mounting an exhibition along with his personal works or with others wherein he’s the protagonist. There are many painters who’ve portrayed him, akin to Antonio García Villarán or Jordi Alamà, who made, amongst different items, a life-size portray of him. In the tip, Hugáceo is sort of a Holy Trinity drag: artist, work and dissemination.