Nine-year-old from Palma Shows His First Collection of Pictures at Garaje Son Armadams

Nine-year-old from Palma Shows His First Collection of Pictures at Garaje Son Armadams

Colors, football cards and a mother who says 'Carpe diem'

At Garaje Son Armadams on Carrer Pilar Juncosa 11 it smells this Friday a little of turpentine and warm coffee. Outside on the Passeig you can hear the distant clatter of buses, inside a brush clicks against an easel: Gil Panadés Kolbe, nine years old, is hanging his first presentation. The show can be seen this weekend, Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 pm.

Gil has been painting since he was three. Not from templates, not from textbooks — he brings images from his head onto paper. Pirates, kings, pop stars, skeletons with guitars, characters from the film "Coco" and an entire fantasy football team, the "Mallorca Stars", fill the walls. Techniques shift from watercolor to acrylic to pastel; recently he has added collages and fabric, which he and his mother consistently call "mixed media." The series of works are thematically arranged so you can trace his development from bold to detail-loving.

Anyone who stands here feels the paintings. They are looks on canvas, eyes that look you straight in the face — not the typical children's gaze, says his mother, but something that lingers. Gil has a good memory for faces and details; a poster of Freddie Mercury on a street corner inspired him to paint real and invented monarchs, followed by David Bowie and Michael Jackson.

The exhibition is more than a children's show: it is a personal event in times when decisions are sometimes made for very human reasons. Sabrina Kolbe, Gil's mother, is from Munich, works as a journalist and entrepreneur, and has collected her son's pictures over the past years. The current situation in their family led her to show the collection now: not for commercial reasons — the works are not for sale — but to show the boy and others what is possible when children are given space to create.

The idea came about practically and locally: a conversation with the gallery operator, a link to Gil's previously private Instagram account (@som_en_gil) — and three weeks of preparation. Originally it was to be a group show, but in the end it remained a solo presentation. Sketchbooks, homemade trading cards and a handcrafted board game in which Gil's friends become players lie on tables. A small, homely universe.

Everyday moment: a boy with a fluorescent school bag stops on the pavement, pulls his hood up against the wind and shyly looks through the window into the hall. Two neighbors from El Terreno bring cookies, the doorman shakes his head in approval. This is how art happens in Mallorca: close, a bit rough, with voices from the street and projects like Joan Aguiló: Portraits, Walls and the Real Mallorca.

Why is this good for Mallorca? Because it brings back memories of exploring, of doing it yourself instead of consuming. In a time when screens constantly deliver new impressions, Gil's exhibition shows that children can invent their own worlds and infect others with them. The show is thus a small contribution to local cultural work — a neighboring room becomes a gallery, art becomes provisional and yet taken seriously, echoing citywide initiatives such as Nit de l'Art: Palma Shines on September 20.

A brief look ahead: painting should remain everyday for Gil, no pressure, no mandatory career path. His mother hopes that other parents and children will become curious, that more spaces like Garaje will appear, and that personal projects will again find a place in the city center, as seen during Joan Miró takes Palma by storm: A summer of color, form and island magic. Art as a counterpoint to the screen, as an invitation to make things oneself — that is the message.

At the end the boy stands with paint on his fingers almost between the pictures, doesn't look much, prefers to keep painting. Those who want to visit: Garaje Son Armadams opens on December 12 and 13 from 5 to 9 pm. The works remain the family's property, admission is open; with a bit of luck you might meet the artist drawing.