I will never forget today's dinner. My friend invited me to his house. His mother cooked us simple spaghetti with boiled eggs and chili. What impressed me was the happiness of the family and the pride they showed of their humble home made of natural fiber, the sand of the beach as the floor. They have neither running water nor electricity, the only source of light was the flashlight of my mobile phone.

When I did a residency in 2011 in Syria I sprained my ankle when dancing on table in an open-air discotheque in Aleppo. I thought that I was going to a fierce dictatorship and found myself in a wild multicultural party, which made me overexcited. After that I couldn’t walk for two weeks which limited my research and adventures.

Last Monday, I arrived in Grand-Popo, Benin, where I’m in a five-week residency at Villa Karo, a Finnish-African Cultural Center. The first thing I did was to fall down in a staircase and hurt my ankle again. This time there’s no interesting story to tell. I guess that this residency will consists basically of sitting in the terrace and watching impotently the ocean waves.

Tes monts ensoleillés, tes palmiers, ta verdure,
Cher Bénin, partout font ta vive parure.
Ton sol offre à chacun la richesse des fruits.
The national anthem of Benin

I've traveled quite a lot but this time it's different. I never packed before these things:

- Insect repellent, 45% deet.
- Three different medicines for diarrhea
- Antimalarial medication
- International certificate of Vaccination (Yellow fever, typhoid fever, hepatitis A)
- Flashlight for power blackouts

On Monday, I'm off to Benin, West Africa. You could think that it's a big adventure but actually I'm going to a residency at Villa Karo, a Finnish-African cultural center located in an idyllic fishing village and tourist resort in Grand-Popo. Being in Africa surrounded by Finns is a bit disturbing circumstance. They asked me to bring with me some rye bread but I told  that I live in Spain. Neither I'm traveling chorizo-laden. When in Benin, do as the Beninese do.

I don't believe in inspiration except when I don't have it. However, I'm professional and keep on working even without the help from the muses though I feel like a mortal person and not a genius.

In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the artist would go into ecstasy or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. That state would be too much for my daily middle class life. Inspired or not, I have to cook for the kids, help them in homework, drive them to activities and wash their clothes.

It's an unusual exhibition week, on Thursday morning I'm still at home. Normally, gallery shows open on Thursdays and I travel on Sunday or Monday.

Capitalist Color Theory at Galería Kernel will be inaugurated on Friday (9pm, possible only in Spain). One of the paintings isn't totally dry so I wanted to delay the transport as long as possible. I'm waiting for Julián and Maria to arrive with the van and then load the works and travel with them to Cáceres.

I've been working with the stuff until the last moment, yesterday I was buying in supermarkets products that have colors as word on the labels: black chocolate, white bread, red tea, orange juice, yellow ají, green pepper sauce, blue fabric softener and violet liquor. It's a supermarket color wheel of capitalist color theory.