Chanivet

Original Large Colorful Surrealist Acrylic Painting with Small Human Figures

2023

Chanivet, (Jose Antonio Chanivet. Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain, 1964) is a Spanish visual artist who graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Seville, specializing in Conservation and Restoration. Over more than three decades, he has developed a practice primarily centered on painting and grounded in a sophisticated command of drawing, materials and pictorial techniques. More recently, he has begun creating his first three-dimensional works, translating the imagery developed in his paintings into sculptural form.

Chanivet creates intricate contemporary still lifes in which objects, toys, personal memories and fragments of graphic culture coexist across shifting scales and visual registers. Although they resemble collages or layered three-dimensional constructions, his compositions are created entirely through painting and drawing. Drawing on the traditions of still life and vanitas, he uses transparencies, changes of scale and trompe-l’œil effects to explore memory, impermanence and the unstable relationship between reality, appearance and representation.

Chanivet has held numerous solo exhibitions since the early 1990s and participated in fairs and exhibitions including ARCO Madrid, Arte Lisboa, Arte Santander, the Unión Fenosa Art Biennial and MARTE Contemporary Art Fair. In 2024, he presented La huella en la harina at CAC Málaga – La Coracha. His work is held in collections including CAC Málaga, the National Library of Spain, the Focus Loyola Foundation, CEPSA, the University of Seville and the Provincial Council of Cádiz.