The Walk of the Butterfly, Painting by Carlos Gamez De Franciso

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This work is rooted in a formative period of my studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, when I had … Read more This work is rooted in a formative period of my studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, when I had the opportunity to take several classes across Europe—in Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Each place left a distinct mark on my practice, but it was the Netherlands that stayed with me the most deeply.

There, I fell in love with the endless tulip fields—those precise yet dreamlike expanses of color—and the extraordinary still life paintings I encountered in museums. They carried a quiet intensity: an awareness of beauty, impermanence, and the poetry of everyday objects. That experience became a turning point in my work and ultimately led me to revisit still life as a central theme.

In my own practice, however, I wanted to reimagine the tradition rather than simply revisit it. My goal has been to create a more contemporary language for still life—one that breaks away from the limitations of the square or rectangular canvas. I began painting on round surfaces, and even extending the composition onto the frame itself, allowing the image to feel less contained and more immersive.

The result is a dialogue between tradition and experimentation: a still life that honors its history while gently pushing its boundaries into a more contemporary, sculptural space. See less