"Trance" Painting

FÉLIX RUBIO — Spain

Félix Rubio is a Spanish contemporary painter whose work explores perception, memory, identity and the instability of contemporary experience through a personal dialogue between figuration and abstraction.

With a degree in Philosophy, Rubio approaches painting from an anti-realist perspective: reality should not simply be reproduced, but questioned, fragmented and reconstructed. Philosophy is therefore not an illustration in his work, but a conceptual starting point. References to thinkers such as Heraclitus, Leibniz, Spinoza and Bauman coexist with influences from European figurative painting, expressionism and contemporary abstraction.

His paintings combine recognisable figures with disrupted spaces, gestural marks, overlapping planes and areas in which bodies appear to emerge from or dissolve into their surroundings. He works primarily with oil and mixed media, using acrylic grounds, pigments, gesso, impasto, glazes, drawing and scraped surfaces to create paintings with a strong physical and material presence.

Rubio is particularly interested in the tension between beauty and rupture: apparently familiar scenes become unstable through fragmentation, spatial contradictions and changes in pictorial language. His recent work increasingly investigates the fluidity and uncertainty of contemporary life while maintaining the human figure as an emotional and conceptual anchor.

His international recognition has grown significantly in 2026. He received a Menzione di Merito at the 6th W.A.B. Biennale in Bra, Italy, and was selected for the Premio Fabrizio De André in Italy. His work was also selected by Artfinder for its Best of August 2026, highlighting his growing visibility among international collectors.

In Spain, Rubio was chosen as the official poster artist for the XIII Premios Nacionales Oh!Tels Pop Eye, an event with coverage by RTVE, Spain’s national public broadcaster. He also participated in the XIII Expoparty – Tribute to Lola Flores at Galería Manolo Alés in La Línea de la Concepción.

His work has been presented through exhibitions and contemporary art projects in Spain and Italy and is available internationally through Saatchi Art and other curated art platforms.

Rubio lives and works in Seville, Spain.