Here you can view the historic gallery of Sanfermin posters.

Mikel Urmeneta is the author this year of the bullfighting poster - the Feria del Toro de Sanfermin 2013, which was presented to the public today by the Casa de Misericordia organization in Pamplona. This entity is responsible for organizing the bullfight week during Sanfermin fiestas. Present at the press conference was Mikel Urmeneta himself, along with members of the board of the Casa de Misericordia, among them the president of the bullfighting commission, José María Marco, as well as the mayor of Pamplona, Enrique Maya.

The poster made by Mikel Urmeneta endorses a long-term rapport in this artist with the world of art and with the world of bullfighting. Urmeneta presented a photo of an object he had come across, i.e. a part of a wooden foldable table in which the contour of a bull can be clearly made out whether looked at from above, behind or in front of the object and it seems to be just coming out of the pens to enter the bullring. On the use of this material, Mikel Urmeneta stated that "the combination of the Wood and Iron (with its singular form and color), evokes the entrance doors of the Pamplona bullring; the corrals and the bullpens".

"The poster fulfills its mission of making a strong visual impact and at the same time stating the theme of what is being announced on the poster," explains Urmeneta, who affirms that it is a poster which is "respectful of the Bullfight week", but which also opens up "fresh approaches" than the more traditional ones often found in the world of the bullfighting poster".

Urmeneta now joins a list of prestigious artists whose work has been commissioned down the years by the Casa de Misericordia organization which has been responsible for the posters for more than half a century. Among these, the designer, José María Cruz Novillo (1971), the Portuguese painter, Luis Pinto-Coelho (1979), painter and sculptor Eduardo Úrculo (1996), the Colombian artist, Fernando Botero (1998), photographer Jim Hollander (2002) or the architect, Rafael Moneo (2009)

This year the Casa de Misericordia personally commissioned a poster design from Mikel Urmeneta. The poster is wholly made by Urmeneta who is also the creative director of Kukuxumusu. The trademark of this company has always been its ability to make drawings which are chronicles and which, at the same time, portray a graphic humorous vision of the contemporary world. The company has never taken a strong stand on any of the polemical issues arising from the world of bullfighting but has simply limited itself to portraying the current reality of bullfighting. In fact, Kukuxumusu has managed to simultaneously do some work for the anti-bullfighting PETA organization while, at the very same time, continue to do its own comical drawings about the running of the bulls for its T-shirt collections, thus reaffirming its wish to reproduce all the existing points of view within our society.

From among these 8 finalist posters will come the official poster to announce Sanfermin 2013. The votes of the citizens of Pamplona will decide the winning poster over the next twenty days. It is now possible to cast votes at the City Hall web page, or by calling the telephone number 010 from inside Pamplona or the number 948 420 100 - for all calls outside the city. As from tomorrow, it will also be possible to cast votes from the Civivox. Centers located in Pamplona. The original posters will be exhibited inside the Palacio del Condestable building in calle mayor street. Voting will close on the 29th of April.

The jury which made the selection from all the entries have found the following positive attributes in each of the posters chosen to be a finalist:
Cartel 1 Nº30, "Locos por la fiesta". David Arratíbel: "This is an allegory of the Rorschach test where a varied interpretation of one of the signs of the fiesta is being sought for. It should be underlined that the technique used is the same as watercolors with a tracing of the test."
Cartel 2 Nº 207, "Santo". David Alegría: "A figurative theme that suggests the work of Botero, choosing a close-up foreground as if appealing to the viewers."
Cartel 3 Nº 109, "Momentos de San Fermín". David Alegría: "This is a Naïf work, simple, graphically well-worked out where the idea of going for something positive is appreciated". They jury has stated that it has not failed to comply with the rules of the competition in not having the main sentence in the Basque language.
Cartel 4 Nº 125, "Check-in". David Alegría: "Modern; an artistic call to the fiesta, a calling in the shape of a fictitious airport"; David Arratíbel:" Very Pop, sublimating an everyday object."
Cartel 5 Nº 146 "Canan". Txaro Fontalba: "Good, modern, with important positive details such as the river in the form of horns and with good applications and other skills.
Cartel 6 Nº 94, "Muelle de pinza". Txaro Fontalba: "this is a poster along the lines of the visual poetry ofJoan Brossa  or the work of Chema Madoz, with impeccable photography and nice play with the typography. Suggestive.
Cartel 7 Nº 308, "Naïf". Txaro Fontalba:"This follows the line of the ideograms and creates a special texture " David Arratíbel, also points out: "It is worth viewing the piece live and in its natural state because it has a metallic touch and the technique used is similar to that of silk screen printing"
Cartel 8 Nº 444 "Ñam". David Arratíbel: "This is playing with a Pantone color list. This is the 485 red, the typical red of Sanfermin. The touch resides in the bite that plays with the idea that you like the color of the fiesta so much that you eat it up."

Y, bueno, sobre el rescate, deciros que fue el quien me llamó para explicarme cosas, porque no va a venir a Sanfermines. En verano trabaja de socorrista en las playas de Antigua y Barbuda (por cierto, el descubridor de ese archipiélago/país fue un marino que, con mucho cariño quiso dedicar el nombre a su suegra). Sin más dilatación, a continuación transgredo el intercambio de pereceres de la llamada.

- Hola, Don Rescate Financiero. ¿Por qué quería hablar conmigo?
- Hola, Imanol Reta. En primer lugar, porque para mí es un placer ser entrevistado por ti, y en segundo lugar, porque me sale más barato que los teléfonos eróticos.
- Cachondo no le pienso poner, aunque podría si quisiera, así que... ¿qué es lo que quería contarme?
- Pues explicar un poco, utilizando símiles sanfermineros, en qué consiste lo mío.
- Adelante entonces.
- Bien, veamos... Es como si yo pagara todos los abonos y entradas de la plaza de toros de Pamplona...
- ¿Seguro que es así?
- Espera, déjame acabar. Hago eso, pero le digo a la plaza que pese a eso, tiene que cobrar por esos abonos y entradas, además con subida de precios. Y luego, que me de parte de esa subida y me devuelva lo que le he pagado.
- ¡Ah! ¿Y eso por qué lo hace?
- Para sanear a la plaza de toros. Lo que estoy llamando plaza de toros es lo que en la realidad son los bancos. Vamos, que todo esto lo hago para no hacer pasar malos ratos a los pobres bancos.
- ¿Y no le importa que los abonados o compradores de entradas sufran por tener que pagar más por sus entradas, encima que ya usted se las ha pagado?
- ¿Los compradores? ¿A quién te refieres?
- Pues siguiendo con los símiles, a los ciudadanos, que al final son los que pagan el pato. Bueno, el pato, la naranja, el pan...
- ¿Ciudadanos? Me suena, alguna vez he oído nombrarlos, pero pensaba que eran leyendas urbanas eso de que existen ciudadanos.
- Existir existen, aunque cada vez más jodidos. En fin, yo casi que le dejo, que me están entrando arcadillas. Y por favor, no me vuelva usted a comparar a los bancos con la plaza de toros de Pamplona.
- De acuerdo, que te mejores. A ver si un año me paso por los Sanfermines.
- Igual casi mejor que no. Adiós muy buenas.