Fernando Coma

“Artists who can’t stand the cold are usually the funniest.”

Born in Barcelona in 1950, Catalan artist Fernando Corma began his professional career at just 18, when he created the original artwork for Spain’s very first comic-style postcards. Yet for him, warm weather mattered more than fame. Bidding farewell to Spanish winters, he set off alone for Mexico. From there, he wandered across South America and Southeast Asia, producing works along the way and even flirting with the idea of becoming a novice monk—always blurring the line between art and life with ease.

This vagabond journey ultimately found its culmination in Japan. In 1996, Corma abandoned oils and watercolors, and pioneered a singular artistic style that fused the medieval Spanish sealing wax tradition with handmade Spanish paper and Japanese mineral pigments.

His art seems to declare, “things are most beautiful when left unopened.” Wax seals rise in relief from the surface, giving each piece the presence of a mysterious letter sent from a kingdom 500 years ago. Handcrafted one by one, his works embody the paradoxical beauty of something you desperately want to open—but must not.

Even now, Corma insists that he “cannot create in the cold”, keeping his studio close ...