Illustrator Lawerta explains #LevantemosValencia poster and Copa del Rey banner

Valencian artist Jorge Lawerta has designed the poster for the ‘#LevantemosValencia’ initiative that brings together derby opponents Valencia CF and Levante to celebrate another step being taken towards normality following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

He passed through the VCF Media studios to talk about his illustration, which has the slogan ‘A derby for a united city,’ and also commented on the canvas banner that he helped create for last year’s Copa del Rey final against FC Barcelona.

“Until the game came around and the cup was won, I didn’t realise what the banner could come to mean. That was amazing,” says the artist of his work, which measured 1,500m2 and was impossible to display at the stadium due to its large dimensions and fragile material. The club decided to conserve the most emblematic parts of his piece, for display in a future museum.

“I think that it was 30x50m, or something like that. It's very difficult to keep it anywhere or give it an alternative use. I don't see anything wrong with cutting it down. It's a bit like the Berlin Wall, where you can have pieces of it as souvenirs. I don't think that there is much of an alternative. That canvas, if it were hung from Mestalla, would have ended up destroyed by the rain and the sun. Folding it up and keeping it in a box would maybe not have been the easiest way to store it. There were few ideas. I like the idea of having a piece of it, but there aren't many other options.”

The pieces of the banner that have gone on sale have attracted a lot of interest from collectors thus far. The souvenir pack includes a cut of the canvas, framed and labelled with the date of the memorable final in Seville.