Elaborate, imaginary worlds open up across the youthful characters in José Luis Ceña’s oil work. Brushy, splattered, and typically fuzzy across the edges, his protagonists don do-it-yourself costumes and traipse by way of forts constituted of sheets and bins.
“I believe that addressing the topic of children more deeply in my paintings came about as a result of having my two children,” the artist tells Colossal. “Living with children makes you realize issues you thought were forgotten.”
Ceña focuses on play to light up the distinction between the innocence of youth and what he describes as “the decay of the world we are leaving behind.”
In his most up-to-date sequence, Paper Tales, children put on masks and traverse a make-believe, cardboard world. Fabricated from quotidian supplies, the scenes remodel into fantastical realms full of animals, dinosaurs, and thrilling mysteries.
The psychology of costumes and concealment tackle a metaphorical position in Ceña’s work, reflecting how folks conform to the actualities of maturity and society. “We wear (these masks) every day, trying to project an image of ourselves that, in most cases, doesn’t align with the reality we live,” the artist says. “This is especially evident in our use of social media.”
Vibrant landscapes are sometimes devoid of depth, as if reduce from paper and layered to type a stage-like set. These flattened scenes “suggest that these worlds are destined to dissolve, to fold in on themselves,” Ceña says, including that “solitude is a silent protagonist.”
The work proven right here was just lately on view with Galerie LeRoyer, and you’ll discover extra of Ceña’s work on Instagram.
