Juan José Molina

JUAN JOSÉ MOLINA (Barranquilla, Colombia, 1962–Vienna, 2007).
“Men with Shoes in Their Hands.”
Diptych. Pair of oil paintings on canvas.
Measurements: 230 x 112 cm and 249 x 150 cm.

The significance of the diptych “Men with Shoes in Their Hands” lies in the fact that it belongs to the period of Juan José Molina’s greatest creative maturity and encapsulates the characteristics that made him a unique figure in contemporary Ibero-American painting. His large-scale compositions featuring nude figures, treated as true “visual dramas,” are the most sought-after works in his body of work and those that best represent his personal artistic language.

This work belongs to one of the most representative series of Juan José Molina’s mature output, developed beginning in the late 1990s, when the artist moved away from the chromatic intensity of his early years to focus almost exclusively on a palette of whites, blacks, and grays. We see a group of nude figures holding shoes in their hands while assuming ambiguous and forced poses, creating a scene charged with psychological tension and unsettling symbolism. The bodies, with their carefully modeled anatomy, appear suspended in an undefined space where time seems to have stood still, creating a theatrical atmosphere that invites the viewer to question identity, vulnerability, and the human condition. The repetition of figures, the fragmentation of space, and the presence of decontextualized everyday objects are some of the most characteristic elements of Molina’s visual universe, where painting becomes a stage for reflection on existence and perception.

Born in Barranquilla, Juan José Molina began his artistic training in Colombia, later expanding it in Canada, France, the United States, Peru, Venezuela, and Spain. Throughout his career, he has exhibited at major international galleries and institutions such as the Aldo Castillo Gallery in Chicago, the Freites-Revilla Gallery in Miami, the Durbán-Segnini Gallery in Caracas, and the Evelyn Botella Gallery in Madrid, and has also participated in art fairs such as ARCO, Art Miami, Art San Francisco, the Paris Biennale, and the Second Ibero-American Biennial in Lima as a guest artist. His work was honored with numerous awards, including the Medal of Honor at the 18th BMW Painting Prize and various awards in Canada and Colombia. He died prematurely in Vienna in 2007; critics recognized him as one of the most original Colombian painters of his generation, highlighting the psychological intensity and extraordinary narrative capacity of his visual language.