Javier Ruiz

Javier Ruiz Pérez (b. 1989, La Carolina, Jaén) studied graphic design in Jaén and illustration in Madrid, and trained further in painting and colour theory in Los Angeles, including portrait courses at 3Kicks Studio in Pasadena and a workshop with Antonio López. He paints in oil on canvas and paper, and works from images he collects and screenshots daily, which he then rebuilds as scenes. The compositions are deliberately theatrical, closer to a stage set than a view: figures placed in calm landscapes under a romantic and decadent light, where what surfaces is instinct, desire and the ordinary miseries of being alive. Nature holds the whole thing together and keeps it from tipping over.

Solo exhibitions include Identities at the Fundación Antonio Gala, Córdoba (2015), Torso, círculo, rama at Sala Juan Francisco Casas, La Carolina (2018), Hasta donde sé at Galería Víctor Lope, Barcelona (2021), and Wax and Wane (2021) and Vista aérea de la libertad humana (2022) at The Curators Room, Amsterdam, alongside shows at Droste Gallery in Berlin and Tuesday to Friday in Valencia. He won the Premio Colección Casa de Indias at Estampa in 2023 and the Bienal de Pintura Deportiva de Burgos in 2015, and his work has been presented at Estampa, Urvanity, Contemporary Art Now, Sydney Contemporary and KIAF.

Ruiz has been represented by Plan X since 2022, when he took part in the group exhibition Every Angel Is Terrifying at Plan X Capri, followed by the solo exhibitions Between the Roars of the Night and the Murmurs of the New Day (2024) and Sacre Memori (2025), both in Milan.