Oliver Mancebo: Transcending the Printed Word

"For much of my life I have been able to dedicate myself, surviving, to what I like. I have taken many turns and I have reinvented myself through hard knocks, but I have never jumped through hoops I didn't want to jump through and I believe I have always been consistent." The words of the writer, journalist, illustrator and cultural agitator, Oliver Mancebo, glide over the guttural phrasing of Green Onions, by Booker T & the MGs, while, leaning at the bar, he sips a Negroni that anticipates the imminence of midday.

Trained in Fine Arts as a draftsman and illustrator, as a young man he was part of the vibrant art brut collective, Infancia en escabeche, with which he organized happenings, exhibitions and edited fanzines. At the same time, he gained experience working on animation series such as Benvinguts a Patatamón, Família.cat or 240, el nen clònic. "At that time, in addition to illustrating, I started getting into other areas such as artistic production or screenwriting, and there, I fully immersed myself in writing," albeit with a notion of writing that transcends the letter and expands into other disciplines and playful-festive dimensions.

"When I started to feel comfortable in a discipline, I left it to irrevocably dedicate myself to something else." The common thread of all these changes is the need to tell stories, express notions, and take all of this beyond the printed word. "The philosophy behind the Mancebía Postigo project is that the publications we release transcend their format and become unrepeatable events," he explains about the collective that, together with his partner and associate, Marta Postigo, has resulted in disparate publications such as Pensadores bailando, Nos vamos a Croatán, Recetario sónico popular, Operación tenedor or the recent Culebrón gastro-carcelario, a booklet that collects the duo's conversations with activist prisoner Daniel Font, and serves as a preview "of a book about kitchens and prisons that is in preparation."

Gastronomy is another element bordering on omnipresence in Mancebía Postigo's artistic production, as evidenced by the fanzine Cinc receptes amb cresta de gall, which collects reflections around punk and food, dedicated to Víctor Nubla who has sometimes counted on the collective for his veteran LEM experimental music festival.

The shadow of "Juanito Líos"

Pop culture scrutinizer, through his collaborations with El Nacional and Cáñamo, and unredeemed B to Z-movie cinephile, Oliver Mancebo has come to collaborate with cult filmmaker Juan Carlos Olarria, considered the Barcelona Ed Wood, and was on the verge of brightening our existence with a documentary about one of those unknown figures who, nevertheless, represent the universal scoundrel character of the Ciudad Condal.

"John Liu was a Taiwanese martial arts expert who had participated in several action films in his country and, in 1974, landed in Barcelona with the Calatrava Brothers to participate in the film Los Kalatrava contra el imperio del kárate". The thing is that this gentleman, who would soon be known in the city as Juanito Líos, was a swindler, a liar, and a rogue." While he was here, the actor got into a lot of trouble, "until he ended up fleeing from the Spanish police, accused of being part of a white slavery network."

Oliver Mancebo worked for years, involving various production companies and partners, to explain Juanito's vicissitudes through a documentary. "But, at one point, I collapsed and decided to leave this project, of which only a teaser remains."

--- No way! That story is too powerful to leave it there and not tell it!

The artist smiles. "Don't worry, I will tell this story through a book that is almost ready." This work will be added to another, co-written with Dani Montlleó, which will deal with the importance of hairstyles in the history of subcultures and has the provisional title Combs like razors.

Reclaiming the "baristic" heritage

"I am from Vilafranca del Penedès, so as a youngster I felt the typical fascination for Barcelona that the big city exerts on a small-town kid. Now I've been here for more than half my life and the relationship with the city has been changing, just like Barcelona itself, which luckily hasn't lost its eminently roguish character." But this change leads the local to live "a bit like an Apache in a reservation, afraid that some of the places I love, in danger of extinction, will end up disappearing," he points out with the Negroni a sip from its end.

"I believe Barcelona has very little regard for its bar heritage ---he continues---. There are many cases, such as the recent closure of Bar Brusi, on Llibreteria street, or the systematic persecution to which a place with the tradition of Ca'l Pep, on Verdi street, is subjected".

--- Perhaps due to our excellent culinary offer, our Bar is holding its own for now. I don't know if, having finished your Negroni, we can tempt you with a menu, portions, a combined dish…

To the rhythm of Booker T's Slim Jenkins' place, Oliver Mancebo reflects briefly, aware of the importance of good food and in tune with that categorical rejection that Vázquez Montalbán expressed through his Carvalho, of the horrible idea of "eating just anything".

"For starters, the combined dish is ruled out," he declares, before falling into another silence that helps him mature a decision, which finally arrives:

---I'll have the menu. And, given the heat, if there's an esqueixada or any cod dish, even better!

---We expected no less from a bec fin like you!