Gracia López Esteban is a Spanish painter, born in Salamanca, a city with a strong university tradition, on Van Dyck Street as if it were a premonition. Following Gauguin's idea, one of the masters who have influenced her painting, according to whom "Art is either plagiarist or revolutionary," she is a painter who delves into the essence of things, the light of landscapes, the soul of figures, seeking to extract what they contain. According to this thematic approach, she highlights in each work what attracts her attention, what communicates its content to her, and what she wants to convey to the viewer: the blue color of the streets in Chefchaouen (Morocco), the mimicry of bowls in the sand, the peeling and moisture-filled houses of a fishing port... This is the philosophy underlying her painting, which she defines with a statement that relates her art to her other great passion, Literature: "I like to paint with words and write with the brush." In this way, she finds inspiration in everyday objects that make up a still life, in the color of the streets that traverse a city and flood her retina, in the dawn that expresses the unreal colors of the sky. This feature, along with the technical combination of the spatula and the brush, the two elements whose use she alternates to achieve the effects she desires and which provide textures and definition, define her style within a single painting. Throughout her artistic journey, she has felt fascination for painters whose lives and works she has studied, whose footsteps she has followed. This is the case with Van Gogh, whose steps she has traced to Arlés, to Auvers-sur-Oise, to Amsterdam on the occasion of the centenary of his death; or Monet, whose house in Giverny she has visited. Some of her references, alongside Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Monet, are also Klimt and Matisse, whose works she admires for their particular interpretation of reality, with a wide and exuberant color palette. Her interest in art awakened in childhood, an interest that has never left her and that constitutes her way of seeing life and expressing what she feels. She studied Art History at the Faculty of Geography and History for several years and researched different styles and materials, from pencil, charcoal, pastel, acrylic, to watercolor. However, it is in oil where she primarily finds her medium of expression. She is a self-taught artist of mixed techniques who has worked on her learning with dedication and self-motivation, which has allowed her to discover many options in the development of her art. However, she has also taken classes in
the studios of some painters and in art schools in Madrid, such as ArteyParte, led by Fine Arts graduates. She has exhibited in centers in different Spanish cities, in cafes, and galleries: In Madrid (Spain), at Espacio Ronda, a gallery dedicated to the arts, painting, music, sculpture, in June 2023. In Zamora, a Spanish city closely linked to her maternal family, at the Centro Sociocultural Peromato, throughout February 2024. During May 2024, she exhibits one of her works, "Raíces" (Roots), which has been selected and awarded by one of her sponsors, at the VIII Spring Salon of Realistic Painting held in Guadalajara (Spain). Outside of Spain, her work "Cloe" has been selected by ARTBOX PROJECTS for exhibition during Art Basel Week in Basel (Switzerland) on June 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th, 2024.Her work "Mujer africana" was also exhibited at the Exhibition Artbox. Project Palma 2.0 December 2024. Palma/Spain as well as the XXI International Exhibition Virtual Museum Mundo Arti Spring 2024, a collective exhibition in which she participates with her work "Bodegón" (Still Life) .In October and November 2024, she exhibited at the A Banda gallery in Seville (Spain).
She is currently immersed in the preparation of her next project, the exhibition that will take place in May 2025, at the Palacio de la Alhóndiga, in Zamora (Spain).
In her artistic exploration, there is also illustration, a discipline in which she is training, attending courses such as "Illustration in watercolor with Japanese influence" by Flor Kaneshiro and "Natural landscapes in watercolor" by Daniel Campos. This knowledge has allowed her to create the covers and interior illustrations of her three published novels. She has also illustrated the covers for several songs by pop artist Caoba: "Leaving behind", "It's not true"(acoustic version) and the cover of the spanish singer Cecilia's song, "A little Bouquet of Violets". She is mentioned in the digital book "Cada loco con su tema" (Each Madman with His Theme), in which she has collaborated with the illustration of a poem, published on April 23rd, 2024, on the occasion of Book Day in Spain.
