148 - JUAN MANUEL COSSIO (Madrid, 1960).

JUAN MANUEL COSSIO (Madrid, 1960). “The Maiden and Cupid,” 2007. Airbrush on panel. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 130 x 85 cm; 152 x 107 cm (frame). A painter of precocious talent, Juan Cossío studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid and began his career within the fertile cultural landscape of 1980s Spain. Classified within the so-called New Realism movement, Cossío relies on photography as a tool for recording reality and on the airbrush as his primary medium. His work, rooted in constant experimentation that pushes the boundaries of painting techniques, evolves through his ongoing curiosity in using any medium that helps him express his contemporary aesthetic, which centers on the female body. Cossío made her debut in 1997 in the group exhibition “Classics and Moderns of Reality,” organized by the Heller Gallery in Madrid, and in 1999 she participated in the Ibero-American Art Fair in Caracas in collaboration with the same gallery. She continued to participate in group exhibitions at the Madrid gallery, and in 2001 she exhibited at the Clave Gallery in Murcia. In the following years, she took part in art fairs in Seville and Madrid, now represented by the Puchol Gallery in Valencia and the Gema Lazcano Gallery in Madrid, while continuing to participate in group exhibitions. In 2004, the Spanish Philatelic Service selected his painting “Natividad” for a stamp issue, and the following year he held a solo exhibition at the Sammer Gallery in Marbella. That same year, he made the leap to the international scene by participating in the Palm Beach Art Fair in Miami and exhibiting at the Vázquez Kunst Gallery in the Netherlands and the Albermale Gallery in London. Since then, he has maintained a consistent presence through solo and group exhibitions and art fairs in Spain, as well as in Austria, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, South Africa, the United States, and Andorra. His work is currently represented in the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, as well as in various private collections.