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Kike Ibáñez (San Sebastián, Basque Country) is an artist whose talent goes beyond visual creation.

“My work is the result of exploring personal experiences that have moved me emotionally”

His passion for bike has deeply influenced his works, to the point that many of his exhibitions, illustrations,… are centered around them, making it a recurring theme in his work.

This collaboration couldn’t have a better starting point.

Kike Ibáñez trained as a graphic artist and designer at the National School of Graphic Arts Islas Filipinas (Madrid) and as an editorial illustrator at the ESDIP - School of Professional Drawing (Madrid).

His illustrations have been selected for the Ibero-American Illustration Catalog (Mexico), Ilustrarte - International Biennial of Illustration for Children (Portugal), and the Little Hakka International Picture Book (China).

In July 2023, he completed a two-year artistic process with an exhibition titled "bIZI. The Beauty of Riding a Bicycle" which featured large-scale paintings, interactive installations, and objects created or modified by the artist himself, with the goal of sharing the natural beauty of the bike and the act of riding it.

The bike is a metaphor. It represents the duality between the childhood world, where it is a toy, and the adult world, where it becomes a tool for transportation or sport, while still retaining that element of play. Similarly, drawing, which was a game for me as a child, has now become a tool because it's how I make a living.

The collaboration with BH holds special meaning for him:

"Collaborating with BH brings me special joy because, in the end, it's the brand that accompanied me throughout much of my childhood. It’s like reconnecting with a friend you had when you were little, with whom you got along very well and had many things in common, and then years later, you meet again and still get along well and still share common interests."

To create our custom iGravelX, first painted a picture and then transferred that image onto the bike. This process felt somewhat familiar to him, as years ago, he did the reverse: depicting a bike frame on a canvas. With this new project, Kike has dubbed the process, which involves two works, “Frame of a Frame”.

“The image I wanted to evoke in the painting, which I then transferred to the bike frame, is that memory of my childhood self, pedaling on that green BH bike along those dirt paths that connected the family houses. Capturing that sense of freedom, play, and small adventure, and transferring it to the bike frame.”

His work is inspired by the graphic references of his childhood: flat, colorful drawings and simple shapes that take on a naïve drawing style, evoking the aesthetics of the 1980s.

All those movies, cartoons, comics, toys… All of that builds or constructs my work.

The creation of his paintings begins with small sketches in notebooks, which he then digitizes to adjust compositions and colors before moving on to painting.

Painting the iGravelX has been a challenge for him: "Moving from two dimensions or a flat medium like a canvas or paper to a three-dimensional medium like a bicycle frame is quite a challenge."

It’s like riding a bike on a path where you don’t know where it will lead. This is something similar because I don’t know what’s behind the frame. I discover it as I go along.

Reflecting on his creative process, Kike Ibáñez remarks:

One thing I find curious is that
the frame is much more complex up close than it appears.

This insight encapsulates his artistic approach, where each work, like a bicycle seen from afar, may seem simple, but it is only when you look closely that its true complexity is revealed.

WATCH VIDEO - KIKE IBÁÑEZ & BH iGRAVELX

Here are the 2024 locations and dates where you can see the BH iGravelX customized by Kike Ibáñez in person:
Italian Bike Festival (Misano), Sea Otter (Girona), and Roc d'Azur (Fréjus).