Young Malaga man who died after being pulled from River Thames in London is named
The promising 34-year-old artist, whose body was spotted floating in the water by passersby, was rushed to hospital by the emergency services but later died
It has been confirmed that the young Malaga man who was found floating in the River Thames in London on Monday, 15 September, was Gonzalo Fuentes. The 34-year-old was a promising artist from Teba, in the north of the province, who worked in the city. He died in a hospital a few hours after a passerby alerted the emergency services. Although everything points to drowning, the British police investigation is still open for further information regarding the cause of death.
A graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Malaga, Gonzalo also studied for a Master's degree in Art and Creative Research at the Complutense University of Madrid. His first solo exhibition was in 2014, at the Facultad de Bellas Artes in Malaga. His work was titled Juegos de construcción (Construction Games). As his blog states, his projects were based on "the concept of painting as a compositional game through resources and references to architectural elements".
The artist, who has also participated in exhibitions at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC) in Malaga, has been awarded and selected in several competitions, such as the 30th Premio BMW de Pintura, the XVII Premio Joven Complutense, the Muestra de Artes Visuales Málaga Crea in 2015, NordArt 2015, the Premio de Pintura de la Universidad de Málaga in 2013 and the Griffin Art Prize in 2014.
Gonzalo Fuentes moved to London for work and further training in January 2019. He lived in Thamesmead, worked as an administrative assistant in a nursery home in Woolwich and, in his free time, dedicated himself to creative projects.
It was on Monday, 15 September, when a member of the public alerted the UK emergency services to a body floating in the river near Thamesmead. The London fire brigade and ambulance crews were called to the scene. He died that same night despite the efforts of doctors.
The relatives of Gonzalo Fuentes are reportedly already in London to arrange the repatriation of his body back to Spain.
