With his 86 meter and 130 kilograms on the scale (he measured 1m80 and 100 kg at 14 years old), the Argentine right pillar is the delight of SA Mauléon, where he has been playing for four seasons, after having experienced the Argentine first division then the 2nd Spanish division in the middle of the Covid pandemic.
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Mole to Maule
“SAM reminds me of my childhood club in Argentina: a group of friends who are competitive on the pitch but who also know how to party or get together over a good meal,” confides the man who contributed to the title of vice-champion of France from Fédérale 1 last season under the colors of the lion club.
However, its adaptation to Soule was not easy. “The beginning was hard. I arrived in July for the Mauléon celebrations, everything was good, everyone was happy. I had a hard time getting used to the rain, the cold and it was hard to communicate with others. I didn’t speak the language,” Agustin remembers. Fortunately, the Mauléonese hospitality and the support of the small community of Argentinian expatriates, also Rugby players and epicureans, helped with his adaptation.
In the smallest province of the Basque Country, the native of Mendoza, in western Argentina, can give free rein to his passion for drawing after his mornings of work in the aeronautics company SPI Aero.
The Argentinian discovered rugby in his town of Mendoza, in the west of the country.
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Culture geek
“I like living in contact with nature, taking the time to draw, discovering new things. City life is too expensive, there are too many distractions to waste time. Here, I like to contemplate the mountains: to sit at the top of a hill to draw,” explains the 29-year-old young man, also a fan of fly fishing.
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Behind his colossus build with tousled hair and thick beard, “Mole” nourishes his childhood dreams and lets his artistic soul speak. Pencil in hand, calabash of mate within reach, he escapes into fantastic worlds.
“I am an absolute fan of the comic book illustrator Moebius. This is my reference. Otherwise, I don't really know how to define my style, between figurative and realistic. I mix fantasy universes,” says this fan of the Dune, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films. “I started from a very young age by copying the drawings of Dragon Ball or Knights of the Zodiac. My school notebooks were full of scribbles. While drawing, I don't see the time passing. I dream of making it my job. »
After a long break away from notebooks and colored pencils, the Argentinian got back into it at the age of 24, to get through a dark period: “I was a little depressed, I didn't like my job, I didn't know where I was going. I rediscovered my childhood pleasures in drawing.”
A clothing brand
Since then, he has shared his works on his Instagram page “La Galeria del Mole”. Thus, Agustin begins to make himself known in the small Souletin artistic world. His rugby player friends order paintings from him and the Argentinian even created a fresco representing an eagle for one of them. His paintings, where octopuses, deer, whales and lions come to life in explosions of color, now decorate living rooms, and some have already found buyers.
But “Mole” doesn’t stop there. With his clothing brand Chill Mama, a tribute to the goddess of the Earth in Andean mythology, he prints his creations on t-shirts and sweatshirts, which are very successful. Latest project, he also redecorated a bicycle in cyan and pink tones. “I would like to participate in exhibitions in the future, here in Mauléon or in Bayonne, a city renowned for its street art,” projects the right pillar of the SAM.
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Between the scrum and the drawing, the Argentinian Agustin Pelaez draws his line.
The rugby artist Agustin Pelaez traces his path with passion. What if, one day, his works went beyond the borders of the Pyrenees mountains? In his dreams, everything seems possible.
Lifeline:
Agustin Pelaez, known as “Mole”. Born November 30, 1994 in Mendoza (Argentina), 29 years old. Argentinian of Spanish origin through his grandfather (Granada). Lived in Mauléon since July 2021.
Position: right pillar, 1m86, 130 kg.
Rugby career: Banco Mendoza (until 2014), San Isidro Club (2015-2020), Industriales Rugby Las Rozas Madrid (2020-2021), SA Mauléon (since 2021).
Professional career: mason at Carrique (2021-2023), aeronautical painter at SPI Aero in Mauléon (since 2023), clothing designer at Chill Mama and illustrator.
Passions: rugby, drawing, fly fishing, cinema, nature, video games.
