Javier Pagola

Javier Pagola (San Sebastián, 1955), who has made drawing his main creative tool, draws on Hieronymus Bosch, Antonio Saura and various strands of expressionism to develop his world of strange beings and characters.

«For me drawing has that spontaneous side of something that catches our attention, that side of ‘less is more’ that I have always liked. And also that quick way of expressing emotions, thoughts… I have always been interested in the artist as voyeur, the onlooker who misses nothing and processes it afterwards.»

After some years studying at the Higher School of Architecture in Madrid, he decided to devote himself entirely to painting, holding his first exhibition in 1980. Since then he has had more than thirty-five solo exhibitions and taken part in numerous group shows in Spain and abroad.

He has received several grants and painting prizes, including the Endesa grant, the grant of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, the Marcelino Botín grant, first prize in the City of Albacete painting award and first prize in the Valdepeñas International Visual Arts award, among others.

He has lived in San Sebastián, Madrid, Cuenca, Paris, Rome and Berlin.

He has illustrated more than fifteen books, such as Gargantua and The Wizard of Oz for Círculo de Lectores, and Bruja, with texts by Julio Cortázar, for Faktoría K de Libros/Rivier.