Is something more noticeable if it’s there or if it’s not? It’s one of those questions that always make you think and the answers sometimes give rise to real genius ideas. For example, in the field of advertising, we often see campaigns for iconic products based on their absence: McDonald‘s did it a few years ago, and Coca-Cola before that. It’s like saying that that product there is so recognizable that you don’t need to show it, people will imagine it anyway.
Here, we can say that this is the same principle that Coco Dávez applied to her personal project Faceless. 

Coco Dávez, born Valeria Palmeiro, is a Spanish artist who lives and works in Madrid. Born in 1989, she began to paint in her twenties, in 2010, gaining some success in the field of publishing. A few years later, due to the crisis that has suffered the industry has had to reinvent itself and passed a period of stop in 2013 has begun to create again without stopping. 

Her production alternates between works on commission for clients such as Vitra, Kenzo, Prada, New Balance and many other personal projects. Among these, the one that stands out is the aforementioned Faceless, which has brought her to be known worldwide. 

Each painting in this series represents a famous person, real or fictional, with a style synthesized to the maximum: Coco Dávez does not use more than 4 or 5 colors that are always bright and vibrant, there are no outlines or contours and the shapes are simple and decisive.
The main feature of these works is that the artist does not draw their faces, but although missing the mouths, eyes, noses, eyebrows, their image is so iconic that we can still recognize them. 

From the most obvious, like Mickey Mouse or David Bowie to the most “difficult” like Bill Murray or Don Draper, no matter who the character in question is, the small details that characterize it will be enough to not make us wrong. 

But Coco Dávez likes to change, that’s why, in addition to Faceless, on her website and on her Instagram profile we can find other works, some even more minimalist others more realistic. In any case, her signature are the colors she uses, among which the primary ones are never missing.