Javier Calleja

JAVIER CALLEJA (Málaga, 1971).
“Between the lines,” 2016.
Silkscreen print on Fabriano paper. P.E. edition.
Publisher and printer: Retinta Asociados.
Signed on the reverse and dated.
Measurements: 40 x 30 cm; 51.5 x 41.5 cm (frame).
“Between the Lines” is a particularly representative example of the visual language developed by Javier Calleja around the gaze, childhood, and the interplay between the visible and the hidden. On a sheet of lined notebook paper, the artist creates a break in the surface that reveals large green eyes and small hands that seem to peek out from the back of the paper.The technique is deliberately simple, yet it embodies one of the recurring themes in his work: the transformation of a seemingly naive image into an ambiguous situation that compels the viewer to fill in what is not shown. The title itself functions as part of the image, simultaneously alluding to the lines of the notebook and to what happens “between the lines”—in that intermediate space where imagination, curiosity, and the unsaid reside.The work belongs to an early phase in the consolidation of Calleja’s distinctive figurative universe, characterized by childlike figures with altered proportions, large eyes, and an aesthetic reminiscent of comics and popular culture.
Javier Calleja studied Fine Arts at the University of Granada, where he graduated in 2000. Since his first exhibitions, which began in 2002, he has built a career marked by growing international recognition, with shows in Spain, Germany, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and other centers of the contemporary art scene.His work is characterized by a naïve, pop, and surrealist-inspired style, featuring childlike figures, large eyes, and a deliberately simple aesthetic. Through painting, drawing, sculpture, and art toys, Calleja explores concepts such as the gaze, innocence, and perception, occasionally incorporating texts that expand the conceptual nature of his images.His work is included in institutional and private collections, including those of the CAC Málaga, CAB in Burgos, the DKV Collection, Banco Sabadell, and the University of Granada, and he has participated in major international contemporary art fairs.