Leo Rebolledo (1980), architect and oil pastel painter, challenges artistic norms with his unconventional technique, forged at an early age during the cultural scarcity of the Pinochet regime in Chile. Self-taught, he meticulously reproduced paintings by European masters with school crayons on makeshift cardboard surfaces, honing a distinctive style over the years. Pushing oil pastels to the limit, Rebolledo achieves captivating textures, light, and color in his works, akin to oil on canvas. Influenced by a predominantly Baroque style and his architectural background, his compositions masterfully play with light and space. Featured in prestigious publications such as American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoiseur, Create! Magazine, and The Guide Artist, Rebolledo was elected a 2023 Fellow of the American Artist Professional League and of Poets Artists, a leading international grouping of figurative artists based in the United States. His works have been hung in prestigious galleries such as Salmagundi Club in New York and the European Museum of Contemporary Art MEAM in Barcelona Spain, among others. One of his most notable works was recently incorporated into the Lunar Codex project, the most important art collection that will be deposited on the surface of the moon's south pole thanks to the Polaris mission of SpaceX and NASA, which is scheduled to launch September 2025. He currently resides in New Haven Connecticut, where he continues to perfect his innovative oil pastel technique.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

"My pictorial proposal is to create a complex narrative through enigmatic and disturbing scenes, often dreamlike, endowed with a high psychological expressiveness.

My works are memories, subconscious impulses that I try to translate into images; an attempt to unleash a dreamlike beauty, a sensation of apparent reality. They are recognizable and endearing places loaded with symbolism where elements that suggest disturbing and mysterious situations converge. The protagonists of my paintings are usually drawn from my own space and close environment, which gives my work a highly autobiographical content.

Through my art, I strive to express a variety of emotions and encourage the viewer to generate their own questions and answers, to complete the story by exploring the depths of their own subconscious.

My realist technique is influenced by many painters and styles, mainly linked to Renaissance and Baroque art, although I also use some contemporary references.

By presenting an unfinished story, I invite the viewer to join me on this journey, to explore the mystery of the unknown and to embrace the beauty of the enigmatic."