Interview with Sojo
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Jonatan Carranza Sojo (born, 1980) began his artistic journey at the age of 12 with graffiti, a technique he developed throughout the 1990s in a self-taught manner.
Since 2001, he has been part of the urban artist collective “ALTO CONTRASTE” (Salamanca), known for creating large murals using black and white as the basis of their compositions, reducing their language to the foundation of drawing and style.
Currently, Sojo presents himself as an artist who straddles the line between intaglio printmaking, illustration, and urban art. On walls, he creates colorful interventions, exploring the limits of spray paint techniques with a strong emphasis on drawing. On paper, his work features delicate drawings and prints, meticulously crafted compositions, and a strong emphasis on light as a defining element.
SOJO’s mural “JOTA ARAGONESA” was voted best MoW Mural of 2025 and MUSIC ON WALLS HAD THE CHANCE TO DISCUSS WITH SOJO ABOUT THE PLACE THAT MUSIC HAS IN HIS CREATION PROCESS.
MOW : WHY IS MUSIC IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR ART?
SOJO : Music has the ability to connect you with moods, memories, and activate your senses. In my daily life, it makes me feel good, and combined with art, it makes me feel fulfilled. When I am painting, it helps me concentrate. Even when I have been painting a mural all day and am exhausted, music energises me and gives me strength.
In my works, music often appears explicitly, representing musical instruments or musicians playing, trying to convey the energy as if the sound itself could come out of the painting.
In a more abstract way, I associate colours with styles of music, and certain shapes can even be linked to their rhythms. Thus, when designing a work that does not refer to music, I may be inspired by songs that I like.
MOW : DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ARTWORK in the ones presented today?
SOJO : Without a doubt, the mural I painted in Paris. In terms of size, it is one of the largest I have ever painted, measuring 37 metres high by 12 metres wide, but especially because of its theme and context. The commission was to capture the essence of the ‘Music District’ of Bagneux, a neighbourhood that breathes cultural diversity and coexistence between European, African and Arab roots, and where hip-hop has had a significant influence on its identity. That's why my idea was to paint a girl of African descent with a double bass, an instrument of European origin, concentrating, playing without a bow in an improvised way what could be jazz or any urban music.
