José Luis Ceña

He graduated in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid and developed his training in engraving and graphic design through a Royal Spanish Mint scholarship. His knowledge of printmaking informs his painting: precise drawing combines with interrupted surfaces, changes of texture and areas where figures appear to emerge or dissolve. Color and light organize the scene without fixing its meaning.

Critic John Seed has placed his painting within Disrupted Realism, reflecting its combination of detailed representation, spontaneous abstraction and unexpected color choices. In series such as Overlapping Childhood, overlapping images and child figures introduce different temporalities within a single space. Innocence is accompanied by signs of decay or threat, preventing childhood from becoming an exclusively nostalgic image.

In Paper Stories, masks, costumes and landscapes resembling paper cut-outs examine the distance between what we show and what we conceal. His figures inhabit fragile settings, somewhere between theatre, play and recollection. Solitude, the possibility of transformation and the construction of an individual identity emerge through the body, objects and the relationship between each character and their surroundings.

His career includes solo exhibitions in Europe and North America and participation in museum projects such as Contemporary Spanish Realism, organized by the MEAM at Japan’s Hoki Museum, Painting the Figure Now at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art and Un día en casa de Sorolla in Madrid. His work is held in the MEAM collection. Alongside his practice, he teaches at the FNMT School of Engraving and Design and in its master’s program with the University of Castilla-La Mancha.

Recent exhibitions include Once Upon a Time at Galerie LeRoyer in Toronto in 2025 and El eco del otro at Marquesa Gallery, held from June 5 to July 31, 2026 and curated by Adonay Bermúdez. In the latter, child figures and animal masks place play at the center of a reflection on identity, the gaze of others and the roles we learn to perform.