RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MAY 3rd 6-8 pm
EXHIBITION DATES: MAY 1st - June 26th, 2025
RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MAY 3rd 6-8 pm
EXHIBITION DATES: MAY 1st - June 26th, 2025
DÉJÀ VU
Callan Contemporary is pleased to announce Déjà Vu, a 30-year survey of paintings by internationally acclaimed artist José-Maria Cundin. The exhibition focuses on abstract works from the mid-1990s to 2025, highlighting the evolution of Cundin’s evocative forms and vivid, luminous color. Born in the Basque Country of northern Spain in 1938, he was exposed from an early age to the chiaroscuro and complex color relationships of Spanish Baroque painting. When, at eighteen, he traveled to Colombia on an art scholarship, he was struck by the “free, powerful, uninhibited colors” and radically different quality of light he encountered there. “The light in Cartagena,” he reflects, “struck me like a phenomenon. It was explosive, conspicuous, impertinent! Then I went to Bogotá, and the light was filtered—very fine and soft.” In his paintings, he has integrated these varied moods of light, value, and saturation into an instantly recognizable style, which marries the richly symbolic chromaticism of the Old World with the exuberant directness of the New.
Although his scholarship’s duration was only three months, Cundin remained in Colombia for two years before moving in 1958 to New York City, then at the peak of its post-War flowering. Later he lived, painted, sculpted, and taught in Mexico, France, Belgium, Miami, and New Orleans, where he has been based since 1964. The artistic and cultural traditions of these diverse locales filtered into his aesthetic sensibility, imbuing his work with a cosmopolitan sophistication and subtly subversive wit. Prized by private, corporate, and institutional collectors and widely exhibited across Europe and the Americas, his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museo de Bellas Artes (Bilbao, Spain), Artium Museum (Vitoria, Spain), Museo de Antioquia (Medellín, Colombia), New Orleans Museum of Art, and Johnson & Wales University (Providence, Rhode Island). This summer his paintings and sculpture will be featured in the exhibition Refreshing America at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans.
Déjà Vu, his tenth solo exhibition with Callan Contemporary, explores his uniquely sculptural approach to abstraction. The organic forms in his compositions appear to float in three-dimensional space and cast shadows, as if illuminated by real-life light sources. The illusions of volume and depth suggest the uncanny possibility of abstract shapes hovering in physical space. In some pieces, gold leaf, painted frames, and text complement the enigmatic forms. In his Folsom studio, Cundin mixes his own paints from raw pigment and linseed oil, conjuring the hues of sky and sea; warm reds; pastels; and earth tones, which coalesce in the glowing, enveloping presence of his finished works. Unexpected combinations of color and form, united by a deep knowledge of art history, are common threads across diverse series and subject matter. This survey, with its focus on a fertile, 30-year span of creative output, offers a rare glimpse into the artistic vision and stylistic development of a modern-day Spanish master.
Richard Speer
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Coveter, 2013
oil on linen
60h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Coveter, 2013 (detail)
oil on linen
60h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
El Exilio de C. Gardel, 2025
oil on canvas over board
39.50h x 33.50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Nocturnal Philanthropist (A Benevolent Delinquent from my Village), 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Gomez the Lawyer, 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
GOMEZ THE LAWYER (detail)
Jose-Maria Cundin
Spanish Lady with Excellent Pedigree, 2008
oil on linen
52h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Investigator, 1998
oil on canvas
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Apocryphal Aztec Portrait of Hernan Cortes, 2019
oil on canvas
63h x 95w in
Featured in "Refreshing America" at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, May -June, 2025
(available for sale at Callan Contemporary)
Jose-Maria Cundin
THE CIVIL GUARD (El Berimeritos), 1998
oil on canvas
58h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Notable Northshore Notable, 2008
oil on linen
60h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
REUBEN, 2023
oil on linen
50h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Liposuctor, 1997
oil on canvas
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
La Migra, 1998
oil on linen
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
ZEBULON, 2023
oil on canvas
40h x 40w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
LEVI, 2023
oil on canvas
40h x 40w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Burukide II, 2006
oil on linen
24h x 24w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
CANTATA COVIDIANA, 2025
oil on linen
50h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
José-María Cundín in his studio in Folsom, Louisiana, 2025
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Radioactive Portrait of Mme. Curie, 2025
oil on linen
60h x 50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
EX VOTO: Santa Fabiola Ruega Por Nosotros, 2008
oil on linen
58h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Golden Novena II, 2025
gold leaf and oil on board
42h x 38.50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Nocturnal Philanthropist (A Benevolent Delinquent from my Village), 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Apocryphal Aztec Portrait of Hernan Cortes, 2019
oil on canvas
63h x 95w in
Featured in "Refreshing America" at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, May -June, 2025
(available for sale at Callan Contemporary)
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Coveter, 2013
oil on linen
60h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Gomez the Lawyer, 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
GOMEZ THE LAWYER (detail)
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Investigator, 1998
oil on canvas
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Spanish Lady with Excellent Pedigree, 2008
oil on linen
52h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Liposuctor, 1997
oil on canvas
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
LEVI, 2023
oil on canvas
40h x 40w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The False Prophet (or the Prophet with 15 % Accuracy), 2008
oil on canvas
52h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Nocturnal Philanthropist (A Benevolent Delinquent from my Village), 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
EX VOTO: Santa Fabiola Ruega Por Nosotros, 2008
oil on linen
58h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Radioactive Portrait of Mme. Curie, 2025
oil on linen
60h x 50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Notable Northshore Notable, 2008
oil on linen
60h x 52w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
CANTATA COVIDIANA, 2025
oil on linen
50h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
REUBEN, 2023
oil on linen
50h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
El Exilio de C. Gardel, 2025
oil on canvas over board
39.50h x 33.50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Apocryphal Aztec Portrait of Hernan Cortes, 2019
oil on canvas
63h x 95w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Golden Novena II, 2025
gold leaf and oil on board
42h x 38.50w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
La Migra, 1998
oil on linen
68h x 58w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
José-María Cundín in his studio in Folsom, Louisiana, 2025
Jose-Maria Cundin
The False Prophet (or the Prophet with 15 % Accuracy), 2008
oil on canvas
52h x 60w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
The Nocturnal Philanthropist (A Benevolent Delinquent from my Village), 2008
oil on linen
50h x 44w in
Jose-Maria Cundin
Apocryphal Aztec Portrait of Hernan Cortes, 2019
oil on canvas
63h x 95w in