Chinitas is based on a passageway in the old quarter of Málaga, Spain, close to a café that became one of my favourite morning places when I lived in the city several years ago. The passage, known as Chinitas or Ladybird, is crossed by a series of small sculptures of acrobats, whose movement contrasts with the monumental architecture surrounding them.
I was particularly interested in the relationship between the scale and stillness of the buildings and the small, animated human figures. The architecture occupies most of the painting, but the figures provide its sense of life and movement.
Light was equally important. The pale surfaces of the upper buildings catch the daylight while the passage itself remains in deep blue-black shadow. The changing temperatures of the light, together with the strong geometric forms and small areas of reflected illumination, create a sense of depth and atmosphere without requiring extensive detail.
Although the subject is recognisably Málaga, the painting is also about memory and the way a familiar place becomes distilled over time. What remains is not necessarily the complete physical scene, but certain relationships of light, shadow, architecture and human presence.