Pedro Leon

Swathed in warm hues and lush textures, Ecuadorian artist Pedro León’s paintings – especially his still lifes of fruits and vegetables – seem lusciously full and ripe for picking. Whether portraying architecture, animals, flowers or food, each painting sizzles with a dominant bold color, seducing the eye with applied textural details that catch unexpected reflections of light. Self-taught and devoted to his craft for over 20 years, León nevertheless benefited from having a great artist and teacher for a grandfather, who brought Impressionism to Ecuador in the 1930s.

Traces of that aesthetic legacy remain visible in León’s stylized paintings, and there’s certainly a Fauvist influence in his wild choices of brilliant and jarring colors. The rich, warm look of his works and their almost surreal surfaces and shading, meanwhile, give them a truly unique style. Among these sweltering tones and swooping lines, the objects often become anthropomorphic, leaning against each other, jostling for position or dancing in place. León’s striking paintings literally bring their often-inanimate subjects to life.