Red moon. 130 x 220 cms. Oil on canvas. 2024.
When the sun went down, 130 x 190 cm. Oil on canvas. 2024.
Winter, 180 x 140 cms, Oil on canvas, 2024.
BIO
The work of José Carlos Naranjo follows a pictorial approach based on the construction of a new figurative language that emerged more than a decade ago, shaped by a young generation. The immediate urban environment serves as the chosen setting, where anonymous characters are caught in the middle of the night in unusual, spontaneous, and relaxed attitudes, generally associated with leisure activities and stripped of any solemnity.
If the chosen themes play a fundamental role in shaping his artistic language, his compositional style is no less significant, as it is directly influenced by photography —both in terms of framing and the use of flash lighting. Similarly, his loose technique allows him to emphasize the casual nature of his paintings, creating a deliberately unpolished finish. A flash of light reveals his protagonists in the midst of action, materialized through a beam of white lights and acidic colors, focused like a spotlight, standing out against a dark, highly contrasted background that is intrinsic to the nocturnal atmosphere.
His work has gained national and international recognition and is part of collections such as BMW Iberia, Club del Arte Joven Paul Ricard, UNIA Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, CAC Málaga, Fundación Venancio Blanco, Fundación Olontia, UJA Universidad de Jaén, and the Diputación de Cádiz, among others.
He has been awarded the 28th BMW Painting Prize, Figurativas ’11 in Barcelona, Maestro Mateo de Córdoba in 2011, UNIA Painting Award, 10th Club del Arte Paul Ricard Painting Prize, 77th José Arpa Prize in Carmona, Griffin Gallery Iberia in London, Columbia Threadneedle Prize in London (2016), and the Casa de Velázquez Residency through the Pilar Juncosa & Sotheby’s Awards and Grants (2021), Fundació Miró Mallorca. Recently, he received the 10th Artistic Creation Award Cortes de Cádiz, the 60th Reina Sofía Painting and Sculpture Prize, and the 9th Manuel Ángeles Ortiz Painting Competition of UJA.
Additionally, he recently held a solo exhibition at the Sala Pescadería Vieja in Jerez de la Frontera. His work has been exhibited in venues such as Scan Project Room in London, Casa de Iberoamérica in Cádiz, CAC Málaga, Unit 1 Gallery in London, Beers London Gallery, Birimbao Gallery, Luis Adelantado Gallery in Valencia, and Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, among others.
