Roberta Marrero (born 2 March 1972) is a Spanish artist, singer, and actress.

Artistic career

In her works as an illustrator, Roberta Marrero mixes and decontextualizes popular images, giving rise to new meanings, and using the technique of

artistic appropriation Appropriation in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied to them. The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts (literary, visual, musical and performing arts) ...

. For example, in her first published book, ''Dictadores'' (2015), she transforms several photographs of icons of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

with images related to the pop world. She thus shows

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

surrounded by characters whose faces have been covered by

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

heads, and presents a portrait of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

made up with a lightning bolt on his face, in the style of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

on the cover of ''

Aladdin Sane ''Aladdin Sane'' is the sixth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 20April 1973 through RCA Records. The follow-up to his breakthrough ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (1972), it was the fi ...

''. With this publication, the artist stated that her intention was to "Vandalize a fascist message and turn it into another one of freedom." In her 2016 book ''El bebé verde: infancia, transexualidad y héroes del pop'', a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

with a prologue by the writer

Virginie Despentes Virginie Despentes (; born 13 June 1969) is a French writer, novelist, and filmmaker. She is known for her work exploring gender, sexuality, and people who live in poverty or other marginalised conditions. Work Despentes' work is an inventory of ...

, Marrero collects memories of her childhood and her transsexuality, explaining how the worldview of various artists from pop music, literature, and cinema inspired her, especially

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

. The main themes in her work are power, death, fame, love, and politics. In addition to exhibiting in Spanish galleries such as "La Fiambrera" in Madrid, some of her works have been included in exhibitions such as ''

David Bowie Is ''David Bowie Is'' was a touring museum exhibit displaying history, artifacts and information about the life, music, films, tours, and art of English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie. The show opened in March 2013 at the Victoria and A ...

'', organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and ''Piaf'', at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

. Joe Dallesandro, model, actor and star of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's superstar ...

, chose one of her illustrations for limited edition t-shirts. Precisely, the author points to Warhol as her main influence. In addition, she samples from the

Fauvist Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

movement,

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, Catholic religious painting,

classical Hollywood Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking which became characteristic of American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s. It eventually be ...

, and punk. In 2016 Marrero denounced British fashion designer

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

on social media, claiming that one of her works had been plagiarized on a shirt sold through Westwood's website. The designer and her husband Andreas Kronthaler responded that the image had been copied without knowledge that it was a work by a contemporary artist. As a musician, Marrero has released two

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

albums and has worked as a DJ at several Spanish clubs.

Works

Publications

* ''Dictadores'' (2015), Ediciones Hidroavión, * ''El bebé verde: infancia, transexualidad y héroes del pop'' (2016), Lunwerg Editores, * ''We Can Be Heroes. Una celebración de la cultura LGTBQ+'' (2018), Lunwerg Editores, * ''Todo era por ser fuego. Poemas de chulos, trans y travestis.'' (2022), Continta me tienes,

Discography

* ''A la vanguardia del peligro'' (2005) * ''Claroscuro'' (2007)

Filmography

* ''Descongélate!'' (2003), directed by Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marrero, Roberta 1972 births 21st-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish women writers 21st-century Spanish women singers 21st-century Spanish women artists Actresses from the Canary Islands Spanish LGBT singers Spanish LGBT writers Spanish LGBT artists Spanish LGBT actors Spanish transgender people Living people People from Las Palmas Spanish contemporary artists Spanish DJs Spanish feminists Spanish film actresses LGBT DJs Transgender singers Transgender actresses Transgender women musicians Transgender women writers Transgender women artists