Iván Quesada (Oviedo, 1975)

Quesada is a self-taught artist whose career—the result of a palpable mastery of drawing, color, and anatomy—has quickly established him as one of the most important portraitists on the current Spanish scene. His work is characterized by its creative ambition and continuous exploration of new forms and formulas. This is the source of the surprise produced by a body of work that combines technical skill with expressive ingenuity, a creative tension that constantly renews our perception of painting. The artist’s paradoxical gesture of mastering in order to disobey the academic norms of painting is the driving force behind a body of work that unfolds with audacity and refinement, challenging the limits of contemporary figuration.

His works, characterized by quick, lively strokes and an explosion of color, depict scenes full of humor and unique characters who spread their joy. In his most recent works, he has developed a line of work that began with oil pastels: the intimate dialogue between his work and art history. In these works, the artist reinterprets classic portraits by great masters such as Francisco de Goya y Lucientes and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, with a style that combines reverence and reinvention from a contemporary sensibility and an expressive palette that dialogues with tradition without losing its personal stamp.

“I always try to take it one step further and surprise myself. To seek new paths,” says Quesada, and that restlessness can be seen in each of the works we are presenting today. His studio is not a laboratory of certainties, but a space open to uncertainty: when he arrives there, the act of painting becomes a dance between what the painting reveals and what he wants. “You have to make mistakes to find that point. Otherwise, you always do the same thing.”

After a solid career as a painting teacher and participant in national competitions and exhibitions in Asturias, the real turning point in the artist’s career came with his exclusive incorporation into the Aurora Vigil-Escalera Art Gallery, from which point he began to make a strong impact on the art market, achieving a string of institutional and commercial successes. Since that year, he has participated regularly in international and national fairs with the gallery, such as Estampa and Art Miami. His success at these events has been resounding, with significant critical acclaim and the incorporation of his work into prestigious institutional collections, such as that of the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias, and private collections, such as that of the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, one of the most important collections in the country, for its spaces in Madrid and Miami. Added to this is the celebration in 2025 of his first dual exhibition at the gallery, Pursued Reality, Dismembered Reality, confirming an upward trajectory marked by recognition, market strength, and a growing presence in prestigious collections.

Digital catalogue:

Works for sale by Iván Quesada at Aurora Vigil-Escalera Art Gallery:

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