Xavier Saus I Ortega

Born in Moixent (Valencian Country, Spain) in 1990. I began painting in 2004, discovering a genuine vocation and profession that would accompany me throughout my life.

In 2021, I experienced a major shift in terms of subject matter: I left behind the landscapes I had been painting and immersed myself in portraiture, specifically portraits of my people and my surroundings. This would become the leitmotif of my work to this day.

From 2022, the figure gradually becomes anonymous; the character becomes a tool. This is when my visual language matures. Focal, artificial light emerges, together with contrast and theatricality, as can be seen in the Tenebrist Series and the portraits from the same time. The model ceases to be the subject and becomes a means of expressing something of my own. This darkness is not merely a formal choice. It reflects years spent hidden away, afraid to reveal myself and to shine, as well as having silenced my need to create.

In mid-2025, light finally returns. I bring the models outdoors, recover natural lighting, and solitary figures are replaced by compositions of multiple figures interacting with one another.

As a result of the previous period of introspection, the urban series begins to emerge in 2026,...

2005–2009. Painting studies at the studio of painter Vicent Giner i Valls in Xàtiva (Spain).

2019–2021. Studies in classical drawing from life and live models at the La Mercè School of Art in Girona (Spain).

2021. Oil portraiture course with painter Javier Arizábalo in L’Escala (Spain).

2026

- Group exhibition. Portal de llibres. Work selected for the 40th Sanvisens Painting Competition. Miramar Cultural Centre. Sitges City Council (Spain).

- Solo exhibition. Des de la intimitat. Sèrie tenebrosa. Caixa Ontinyent Cultural Centre. Ontinyent (Spain).

- Group exhibition. Cromática IX Young Painting Biennial of Orense (Spain).

2025

- Solo exhibition. Retrats. Espai Art60 Gallery. Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Spain).

- Group exhibition. ModPortrait 2024. Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona (Spain).

- Group exhibition. Figurativas 2025. European Museum of Modern Art. Barcelona (Spain).

- Solo exhibition. Des de la intimitat. Sèrie tenebrosa. Casa Saladrigas Exhibition Centre. Blanes City Council (Spain).

- Group exhibition. Ra del Rey Gallery. Madrid (Spain).

2024

- Solo exhibition. Retrats. Friends of the Girona Art Museum. Chamber of Urban Property of Girona (Spain).

- Group exhibition. ModPortrait 2023. European Museum of Modern Art. Barcelona (Spain).

- Solo exhibition. Des de la intimitat. Sèrie tenebrosa. L’Arc Gallery. Sant Antoni de Calonge (Spain).

- Group exhibition. Cromática VIII Young Painting Biennial of Orense (Spain).