Luis Gomez de Teran

Luis Gomez de Teran uses his figurative language to convey, on a large scale, a reflection on spirituality, human connection and our environment. Born in Caracas, Gomez’s family moved to Rome when he was a child. Growing up in a religious family, he was introduced to visual arts in churches such as frescos—however, as a teenager, Luis Gomez de Teran expressed his creativity with large-scale graffiti and street art.

A self-taught painter, Luis Gomez de Teran’s practice led him to travel to London, Barcelona, and Berlin. Back in Italy, he continued extensive public paintings and started to take his work to unusual and remote places, where viewing contemporary art is a rare and unique experience. His work can be found in abandoned towns and facilities, on the top of towers and snowy mountains, in underground bunkers and caves, on shipwrecks, and also in lakes, seas, forests, and other inhabited places. By favouring figurative art, Luis Gomez de Teran examines human beings’ relationships. Hands, feet, and nude bodies embody his universal message of kinship. His process enables him to navigate layered and complex grand themes, such as beauty paired with the most dramatic aspects of life; through careful consideration of light and shadow but also with working the materiality of his pieces via peeling or burning.

Beyond considerations on our shared human condition, more recently, Luis Gomez de Teran has been exploring our urge to connect with nature. By witnessing nature’s beauty and strength, watching plants and flowers blooming, and gazing at water flows, Luis felt compelled to go beyond the figuration and abstraction; experimenting with form and shape. No longer on the side of buildings, this new phase inspired him to draw on the floor and turn the ground into a canvas. Luis Gomez de Teran also paints on plexiglass or wooden panels as a way to then place his work within a specific surrounding: creating a dialogue with their context. Works such as Eridanus, (DATE) about recent droughts in Europe, accompany other projects highlighting regeneration or earthquakes. Luis Gomez de Teran uses his art as a way to raise awareness about local problems. For him, artists have “a responsibility when it comes to public art as it holds a lot of power”.