Carlos San Millan
University: Licenciature
Graduation Year: 1995
New Blood Art Commentary
See inside the studio
Carlos San Millan’s work strikes a lucid balance between the figurative and the abstract. More than painting his surroundings, he affords each scene a subtle, lived-in narrative that takes viewers on a journey of discovery. Everyday interiors and objects are imbued with character, whilst landscapes seem to undo themselves just as they come to fruition. Millan’s approach is distinguished by a looseness and liveness, a practice attentively developed through study at the University of Basque Country School and his travels around Latin America. Soft brushwork and an opalescent colour palette captures life in all its nuance; the way living quarters mesh with our memories and dreams, or how light ever-phases in and out of darkness. Each piece acts a reminder to take delight in the sensual, an appeal embodied through the becoming of form into content.
Artist Statement
Born in Spain in 1969, after spending a few years in Latin America I'm back here living and working. Graduated from University of Basque Country School with degrees in painging and design in 1995.
My paintings have a big autobiographical component: my subjects belong many times to my immediate environment, to my nearest reality, largely due to my belief that it is not necessary to go too far to find the universal in everyday things. I would define my work as a continuous searching that becomes frustrating some times; I'm a little obsessed about reaching some way to represent things and matter satisfactorily and definitively.
As direct influences on my work I can mention Antonio Lopez Garcia, Avigdor Arikha, and Ewan Uglow. Contemporary painters who have known how to see and represent matter essence as a few ones. I've been influenced also by conceptual painters as Rothko, Richter or Schnabel. But I cannot forget the first time I saw Velazquez at El Prado museum in Madrid; I was really amazed by his incredible apparent ease in capturing life in his portraits.
Solo Exhibitions
(2015) Carlos San Millán, Z LifeStyle Gallery, Quito, Ecuador
(2013) Carlos San Millán, CAF Art Space, La Paz, Bolivia
(2013) Carlos San Millán, Mérida Romero Gallery, La Paz, Bolivia
(2012) Carlos San Millán, Altamira Gallery, La Paz, Bolivia
(2011) Carlos San Millán, Nota ArtSpace, La Paz, Bolivia
(2010) Carlos San Millán, Nota ArtSpace, La Paz, Bolivia
(2007) Carlos San Millán, Espacio 36 Gallery, Zamora, Spain
(2007) Carlos San Millán, GMN & Cia Gallery, Palencia, Spain
(2006) Carlos San Millán, CuatroDiecisiete Gallery, Madrid, Spain
(2006) Contemporary Views, Marietta Negueruela Gallery, Palencia, Spain
Group Exhibitions
(2022) Good on Paper, Meyer Vogl Gallery, Charleston SC, US
(2021) Love story, Meyer Vogl Gallery, Charleston SC, US
(2019) Interior Spaces, Meyer Vogl Gallery, Charleston SC, US
(2018) Colectiva, Fermín Echauri Gallery, Pamplona, Spain.
(2016) HTLGI Exhibition, New Blood Art, Hereford, UK
(2014) XI Artists, Mérida Romero Gallery, La Paz, Bolivia
(2012) Diálogos Visuales, Mérida Romero Gallery, La Paz, Bolivia
(2007) Interiors, CuatroDiecisiete Gallery, Madrid, Spain
(2005) Art Prize, Excma. Diputación Provincial de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Spain
(2005) Carlos San Millán, Marietta Negueruela Gallery, Palencia, Spain
Competitions, Prizes & Awards
(2008) Alcalá de Guadaira, Seville, Spain. 1st Prize
(2006) Parque del Capricho, Madrid, Spain. 1st Prize
(2006) Certamen CCM, Toledo Spain. 5th Price
(2005) XVè Premi de Dibuix Joan Vilanova, Barcelona, Spain. Accesit
(2004) Provincia de Guadalajara, Spain. 2nd Price
(1997) José David Redondo. Valladolid, Spain. 1st Prize
(1996) Agora, Cádiz, Spain. 1st Prize
(1996) Germán Calvo. Palencia, Spain. Accesit
(1994) María Romero, Palencia, Spain. 1st Prize