Carlos Álvarez Las Heras’ practice is centred around figurative painting. People, animals, and objects are pictured in interiors and landscapes, in distorted spaces, and impossible perspectives. With an almost naïve approach to his colours, Álvarez Las Heras creates a textual effect, letting each artwork’s motives dissolve into patterned fields of powerful colour. All elements in each work demand their own attention.
The sense of time and space is dissolved, and tales of the meeting between people, late nights, and life moments become connected. The passing of time in Álvarez Las Heras’ works is commented by the presence of symbols such as the clock and the skull, indicating a before and after, which the viewer is not let to see or understand. Instead, one is left with scenes, full of mystical narratives. The works function as distorted snapshots of people caught in their chores or in quiet contemplation. What steps into focus is the moment, like a right now, torn from its context.
Carlos Álvarez Las Heras (Léon, Spain, 1982) graduated from Universidad Complutense, Madrid in 2005. Same year, he was invited to exhibit at the College of Spain in Paris, where he afterwards was rewarded the price The Medal to Artistic Merit in Plastic Arts. Álvarez Las Heras has exhibited at Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Galería El arte de lo Imposible, Gijón, ARCO, Madrid, and Revellin Museum, Ceuta, among others. He has made commissioned work for the city of Léon and Madrid-Barajas Airport.
Handwriting is personal, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 61 x 61 cm
The Endless Summer, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm
The attraction of fire, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 cm
Just the two of us, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm
Sunday morning, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 101 x 101 cm