The CPS published the silkscreen "Ice Merchants" by João Gonzalez, thus inaugurating the "Portuguese Animation" Collection, curated by the Director of the Monstra Festival, Fernando Galrito.
This work captures in a single image the remarkable animated short film of the same title, awarded in 2022 at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
The silkscreen "Ice Merchants" at the CPS Atelier
João Gonzalez at the CPS Headquarters
“A man and his son parachute every day from their cold, dizzying home, perched atop a cliff, to reach the village below on the plain, where they sell the ice they produce during the night.” This is the theme of the beautiful story of survival and affection, a metaphor for human existence itself.
João Gonzalez, "Ice Merchants", silkscreen 50 x 70 cm, 100 copies
João Gonzalez (1996, Lisbon) is a Portuguese director, animator, illustrator, and musician with classical training in piano and a degree in Arts and Multimedia from ESMAD (Porto). He was a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholar and earned a master’s degree at the Royal College of Art (United Kingdom). The artist combines his musical training with his artistic practice in animated cinema, serving as composer and occasionally as an instrumentalist in the films he directs.