Matías Sánchez

MATÍAS SÁNCHEZ (Germany, 1972).
Untitled, 2002.
Oil on paper.
Bears a stamp from the Icaria Gallery (Seville) on the reverse.
Signed and dated in the lower section.
Provenance: Icaria Gallery (Seville) and private collection (Seville).
Measurements: 11 x 16 cm; 33 x 38 cm (frame).
Created at a pivotal moment in Matías Sánchez’s career, during these years the self-taught artist, based in Seville, was beginning to gain widespread recognition for a style of painting that reclaimed the expressive power of spontaneous drawing and popular imagery, moving away from any ideal of academic representation. The work depicts a figure with grotesque features and a defiant attitude, rendered with rapid, direct brushstrokes that emphasize the immediacy of the creative gesture. The formal simplification, anatomical disproportions, and expressiveness of the face reflect influences from Neo-Expressionism, comics, graffiti, and outsider art—references that Sánchez seamlessly integrates into a deeply personal iconography.
Matías Sánchez was born in Germany in 1972. As a self-taught artist, he has always felt a passion for art that led him to pursue an artistic career. Matías Sánchez held his first exhibition at Cavecanem in 2001, and a year later his work was exhibited at ARCO, where it received a warm reception from critics. In 2003, he returned to the Contemporary Art Fair held in Madrid, and his work was featured and covered in the newspaper *El País*. This marked a turning point in his career, leading him to hold numerous solo and group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. Notable among these are exhibitions at the Begoña Mallone Gallery (Madrid), Javier Marín (Málaga), Valle Ortí (Valencia), Espacio Líquido (Gijón), “Christopher Cutts Gallery” (Toronto, Canada), and Costantini Art Gallery (Milan, Italy). His work has been exhibited at various leading contemporary art venues, such as the CAAM—Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and the CAC Málaga. In addition to ARCO, MACO 2013 —Mexico Contemporary Art, Art Stage Singapore 2013, Art Monaco 2013, India Art Fair 2013, Contemporary Istanbul 2012, Art Toronto 2012, Art Moscow 2012, and the Beirut Art Fair 2012.