César Galicia

Renowned for his “greater than life or more than real paintings,” César Galicia, a native and resident of Spain, has been referred to as a “sensation of contemporary trompe l’oeil.” Championed for his illuminating renderings of what are seemingly ordinary objects – toys, public telephones, air pumps, motorcycles - the artist’s subjects are always painted from life and never from photographs. In this way, they serve as deeply absorbing and fascinating portraits of contemporary life.

For his paintings, Galicia employs the traditional study of “things natural,” reconstructing his subjects in a process which goes from the inside to the outside (he even paints the interiors of devices which will never be seen, as they are hidden by their covers), leading him to a concept of reality in its extreme. Putting into operation both the visual appearances of his subjects and the knowledge we have of them, the effect on the viewer and the surprise of a visual reality in paint is pure César Galicia virtuosity. The Artist has taken the craft of painting to its limits where oil painting has become fantastic and nearly real. Drawing on the experiences he had during his years in New York as well as life in his native Spain, César Galicia has developed an urban mysticism in which beauty explodes on each graffiti-covered wall.

Works by César Galicia can be found in public collections that include the AlbrightKnox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), and the National Museums of Spain and Mexico, along with private collections in Japan, Spain, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States.

César Galicia has been represented in the United States by Forum Gallery since 1994.