Montana Colors is a company committed to gender equality, so it follows that women should occupy positions of responsibility at the company. Take the multitalented Tina Bendala, for example: captain of the Montana Shop Sevilla team and artist who illustrated and selected tracks for the Spotify playlist. This interview with Tina kicks off #mtnwomensmonth: a series of content that will celebrate and promote the contributions of women in graffiti, street art, muralism and beyond.
Who works at the Montana Shop Sevilla?
Myself (Tina), Sergio y Meri. We are AKA Dirty Martini, M. Arena Ténere and Wild Pokemon. Previously, Wen and Hugo Boca have also been part of the team, shout out to both of them!
Tell us the story of the store opening.
It’s 2011, at the end of February, I think I remember. Jordi Rubio called me, when I was making coffee. He asked me: “How about looking for a place to open the new Montana Colors store in Seville?” I said yes. The rest is… relatively recent history. Wen and I got to work. We looked for a place, found it and opened the store. It didn’t take long. We had no fittings, but we repurposed some things from the previous store, Impact Sea, which sold skate shoes, and the pallets that came with the paint from the warehouse. It was open in no time, less than seven weeks I think, and on May 3rd we were open for business.
New people are always appearing, and a lot of bombers, who will remain nameless. Customers come from motorcycle garages, bicycle workshops, fancy dress, furniture restoration and decoration. Our clientele is really diverse.
What do you like about the neighborhood where the store is located?
We moved to Calle Amor de Dios 15 in the summer of 2017. The spot is beautiful, located on the street that goes from the center of the city to La Alameda. Our nextdoor neighbors are the legendary Record Sevilla record store. We really like our neighbors down the street. We like to be close to Lucero Tattoo. Actually we were also neighbors at our first location. The Vegani food store has exquisite salmorejo and Cocome is a great place to have breakfast and eat whilst you doodle. We’re also quite close to Debaga Textile Tattoo and Último Mono, who do risography and screen printing. We are in the center, where everything happens, and we are very happy.
How would you describe the community of artists that pass through the store?
Well, for our customers are varied and eclectic, like us XD. Of course, local writers visit, as well as artists, illustrators and students. Lately María Ortega has been a lot, who is organizing some workshops and painting beautiful murals. The graffiti faithful include Nowet, Alone and the tireless Ed Zumba. New people are always appearing, and a lot of bombers, who will remain nameless. Customers come from motorcycle garages, bicycle workshops, fancy dress, furniture restoration and decoration. Our clientele is really diverse.
What’s the graffiti scene like in the city?
Well, graffiti is always alive and always changing. Lately people are going out a lot to abandoned places, they have a drink and paint in peace. Right now there are no walls to paint in the city. We have the river banks, but the city council never takes the initiative to transform it into a proper Hall of Fame. The rest is in the streets, bombing.
What places do you recommend visitors for painting or checking out spray can art?
Well there are always beautiful walls to discover down by the river. Around here there are a lots of people doing beautiful things. Stop by local studios, like the $% &% $ & $% &% $ &! Studio where Srger, Patricio Hidalgo and Jonipunto work. Quebradero Estudio is open, and really active. There’s La Oficina at Último Mono, and Delimbo. Go see the Ahe Taller, Un Gato en Bicicleta and DI Gallery, right now there’s a show by Little Exhibition.
Ah! You can’t miss the the Centro Civico Entre Parques in Pino Montano, where you can see all the pieces painted at the annual Montana Shop Sevilla and EYC event: SOMBRIJAM! Oh my God, Sombrijam was great and gave us a little hope for the future. It was difficult for us to pull it off – we had to postpone it due to quarantine – but we finally did it. Thanks to Nowet, you’re a star! Spoiler: we’re preparing for Sombrijam 2021 already :).
Do you offer anything else besides art supplies?
Every now and then we put out a print run of Montana Shop Sevilla t-shirts, the latest in collaboration with Roice183. We want to do more. We invite artists to decorate our shop window, which you can see on our Vimeo page like this one with Lahe178. We hold workshops and different events, presentations, like this one with Contemporary Adventures. We love to host this type of activity at the shop and we’d love to make it happen more often. We’ve also set up stands at expositions, doing manga illustration and cosplay workshops. We’ve also done various graffiti exhibitions.
From time to time we have carried out manual typography workshops with Dibujando con letras, and textile workshops with Merino and Tinatha. I wish we had more physical space for exhibitions, and maybe a cafeteria, that would be great as we love coffee.
We have also organized exhibitions in the store, the last one by Roqet, who invited artists to paint handmade tin rockets. There was also launch of a fanzine by Chacho Wancho, which was gorgeous. We have always made sure there’s lots of life in the store, and participated in events with workshops, stands, graffiti demos, exhibitions and of course, it keeps things interesting.
“When we had to close the shop in the lockdown, I ran down to take care of the plants. When I came back a month later, it was a jungle, seriously.”
What can you tell us about the playlist you’ve put together?
It’s actually the most recent Spotify list that we’ve made. It was more or less prepared in advance, but we’ve pulled out all the stops for this one. It’s made up of the music we listen to, from timeless international tracks to brand new local rap, from De La Soul to tunes by the Breaking Bass collective, Camarón, Gata Cattana, Wu Tang, Bronquio, Das EFX, El Gincho, Califato ¾ and Erika Bahdu, Pedro Ladroga and La Alta Escuela.
Which song best describes the feeling of the store, the neighborhood, the city and your scene?
Hum, I think it’s a difficult question… I think I’d say “Rotu Seco” by El Gincho. It’s really cool and touches on lots of themes. We love it. Also Space Coach by Chacho Brodas, a dope group whose latest album is fire.
Has anything funny or weird happened to you at the store?
People always turn up saying the same catchphrase – “Damn boy it’s hot!” – but you know what? As soon as they turn up it starts raining or gets cold, so we recommend when you come that you don’t provoke the elements XD.
We’ve had famous customers come through, but we don’t bother them and leave them to get on with their business. One time an enormous rat approached the store, the size of a pony, but in the end chose to go down the sewer to his house.
- Funny things have happened. The inauguration of the store looked like a more like a club, especially when someone brought a smoke machine down which set the fire alarm off.
- When we had to close the shop in the lockdown, I ran down to take care of the plants, because I’d set up an ultra-efficient irrigation system. When I came back a month later, it was a jungle, seriously. We were pretty worried, but actually the plants were having the time of their lives at the store.
- One time Sklt Slkt and Bambuone came down to spin some vinyl. Sergio and I, didn’t stop making mojitos all afternoon. We were actually billed on the poster as “Mojitos Mojainders” or something like that, and it was a lot of fun.
Like anywhere we have our little quarrels, some good times and some not so good, like life itself. To run a Montana Colors store, there is a requirement that I think must be met: have low blood pressure, have a progressive attitude and remember to take a deep breath every now and again. It is like a game; you never know what’s really going to happen and you always have to be prepared.
