Álvaro Gómez-Pantoja Mateache. Valencia, 1996. He began his artistic career during his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. After delving into various artistic disciplines, from anatomical drawing to sculpture with wood, he has produced works focused on painting and expressionist figurative illustration. During the last years of this period he developed a great interest in drawing with different pictorial techniques that led to a professional tendency towards poster design and illustration. He currently works with different techniques and formats with a common thematic line based on portraiture and human figuration.

ARTIST STATEMENT

For me, artistic creation has been a means of expression and communication for as long as I can remember. Art answers my existential questions and raises others that I wish to resolve. I feel deeply related to 20th century European expressionism, I try to continue its legacy, which can tell us so much about our society today. I pay attention to human emotions, especially those we experience with shame because we are afraid to remember. Loneliness, uncertainty, anxiety or nonconformity are some of the recurrent expressions of my characters. They help me describe and understand what society is like and what role I play in it. My work focuses on the representation of human beings in their everyday life and diversity from a gloomy and pessimistic perspective, exalting and deforming the physical characteristics that cause the exaggerated expression of the characters. In the search for a representation of human feeling without prejudice, without lies or complexes, I find a deep love for shapes, color and composition. Trying to create a work that is honest with the public and with myself, that honors the beauty of art and nature. Using contemporary techniques and materials, I create works where the irregularity of shapes, solid lines and overloaded textures take center stage.