Claudio Villafane

Claudio Villafañe (b. 1989, Córdoba, Argentina) is a London-based, self-taught painter. Working primarily in oils—often with oil sticks and dry pigments—on canvas and plywood, he builds layered, scraped surfaces where earlier decisions remain visible. His paintings hold frontal figures inside landscapes that remember Córdoba: high horizons, serrated silhouettes, red earth and hard sun, rendered with a folk-icon clarity that sits between intimacy and myth.

Colour choices, shaped by colour blindness, favour contrast and direct form over naturalism. Flat, matte fields act as a stage for symbols and bodies—thresholds, routes, heat, and distance—leaving space for the viewer’s own story. With a background in construction, Villafañe fabricates many of his supports and prepares his grounds by hand. He has exhibited in the UK and internationally, including Tomorrowland’s Remember The Name (Belgium, 2023), and his work is held in public and private collections. He lives and works in London.

Self-taught painter (no formal art school).
Material research: oils, oil sticks, dry pigments, acrylic dispersions, and soft pastels.
Builds all canvases on custom, hand-built stretchers; prepares grounds and surfaces in studio.

2025 — addiction (Group), Sands End Arts, London, UK.
2024 — Open Call (Group), The Phony Art Collective, Gallery Lock-In, Brighton, UK.
2023 — B.H.C.A. Spring Art Exhibition (Group), London, UK.
2022 — Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (Solo), Gloops, London, UK.