Carlos Arriaga

CARLOS ARRIAGA (Madrid, 1958).
“Art in the Heart of Madrid,” 2026.
Oil and pencil on a grisailles study of a black-and-white photograph.
Certificate of authenticity issued by the artist is included.
Titled, dated, and signed on the reverse. Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 90 x 146 x 6 cm.
The capital is viewed from a privileged perspective: the sky. From there, Arriaga reorganizes the city and transforms it into an almost dreamlike setting, devoid of the usual temporal references. His method combines elements of photography, painting, and, at the same time, architecture. First, he captures fragments of the urban landscape with his camera; he then analyzes, selects, and modifies them until their structure and perception are altered. Madrid thus ceases to be a recognizable city and becomes an imagined one—a metropolis suspended between the real and the impossible.
Carlos Arriaga’s career occupies a unique space where photography and painting engage in a dialogue until they become indistinguishable. Trained in New York, one of the great international capitals of artistic creation, he studied photography and cinematography, as well as drawing and painting, at the prestigious Arts Students League. He later continued his training in Madrid at the Arauco Foundation under the guidance of painter Guillermo Muñoz Vera.
Since 1980, he has built a solid career as a professional photographer, collaborating with renowned advertising agencies and some of Spain’s leading fashion magazines and general-interest publications. At the same time, his paintings have been exhibited at various international venues and fairs, including the Affordable Art Fair in Brussels, as well as in galleries in Madrid and Málaga. His career has been recognized, among other honors, with awards at the 14th Carlos de Haes Visual Arts Competition (Madrid, 1996), the 119th Autumn Salon (Madrid, 2002), and the 25th BMW Painting Prize (Madrid, 2010).