Federico Herrero

He was born, lives and works in San José, Costa Rica. His work lies outside the Latin American traditions of conceptualism, muralism and geometric abstraction, but references all of these styles. He won the special prize for young artists at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001.

Federico Herrero's painting is characterised by its extraordinary chromatism, combining, without mixing them, a great diversity of luminous and pure colours. Colours which he sometimes uses in large monochrome patches, but which he confronts and juxtaposes with other pure colours, thus generating abstract compositions of resplendent fields of colour. Another of the characteristics of his painting is the prodigious way in which this chromaticism expands beyond the canvas, towards the gallery walls and even into the street.

In fact, Federico Herrero began more as an urban artist, hanging a multitude of small paintings from the trees of San José and, later, painting on the walls and pavements of the streets. That is why his painting is also defined by its expansive character and, in general, by large formats.

His participation in Rafael Pérez Hernando Gallery took place in 2018, when the duo exhibition between the Costa Rican artist and Joan Hernández Pijuan was held in collaboration with Juana de Aizpuru Gallery, with whom Federico Herrero regularly exhibits in Spain.