Pure pigments on fiberglass mesh let portraits appear and vanish with the light.
Juan Carlos Callejas was born in Cali, Colombia, and works between South America and Europe. He is currently based in Austria. At eighteen he entered a Peruvian studio environment linked to the Escuela de Bellas Artes del Perú, where he learned to prepare his own colors and to build a disciplined material practice. He still follows that approach today, grinding pure pigments shipped from Colombia and developing bespoke binders in the studio. Rather than painting on standard grounds, Callejas often constructs a fiberglass mesh support that he engineers himself. The surface is resilient and slightly translucent. It holds the paint while letting light move through the weave. Across layered fields of glazes, scrapes and deposits, the artist sets abstraction and figuration in conversation. Portraits and scenes from daily life surface and recede. As the viewer shifts position, hidden passages come forward, sometimes with the feel of a double exposure. The group of works gathered here continues his inquiry into the human face and the way recognition happens through time. These are not portraits of specific sitters. They are spaces for attention, where memory and perception align. Each painting is built by hand and carries its own tone and temperature through the choice of pigments, the density of the mesh and the rhythm of layering. Callejas has presented his work in Colombia and internationally, including Graz, Berlin, Monaco, Doha, Madrid, New York and Tokyo. His works are held in private and institutional collections across South America, Europe and Asia.
