Cristian Mesa Velazquez (XX-XXI) - Deriva

Deriva
Oil on canvas · 62 x 43 cm · 2026

A figure floats face up underwater, the head near the surface where light filters through plant shapes and breaks into greens and golds. The body descends diagonally toward the viewer, wrapped in a field of turquoises and greens that darkens toward violet at the bottom of the canvas, as if the depth itself changed temperature.

There is no gesture of swimming nor an active stroke: the arm falls loose, the facial features dissolve in the fragmented surface light. Cristian Mesa Velázquez works here with a more passive variation of his central theme — the body suspended in water — close to the surrender of Confianza en la Flotación, but without the closed introspection of that piece: here the body does not fold in, it abandons itself to the current.

The execution accompanies that idea: the brushwork is looser and more atmospheric than in pieces like Libertad en Azul, with the background resolved almost as fields of color that merge with each other, while the face and torso retain just the right definition to anchor the figure without tipping into photographic detail. The result is an image that is read first by its chromatic temperature and only after by its figuration.

Technique: oil on canvas
Measurements: 62 x 43 cm
100% handmade by the artist
Includes certificate of authenticity
Ships unframed (removed from the frame) for maximum transport security

His series of submerged swimmers has been the subject of a comparative academic analysis with J. E. Millais and Samantha French, published in August 2026 in Aletheia – A Journal of Literary and Linguistic Studies.

Cristian Mesa Velázquez
Las Tunas, Cuba (1994). Resides and works in Valencia, Spain.

Studies
2013- Level Middle in Plastic Arts. Professional Academy of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.

Selected Group Exhibitions (selection)
2010. Nicolás Guillén Iconographic Salon. UNEAC, Las Tunas, Cuba
2010. Exhibition “Vástagos.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2011. Martian Salon. Sculpture Workshop Gallery, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2011. Exhibition “Lithographs.” UNEAC, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2011. Exhibition “Final Integral Exercise.” Professional Academy of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2012. Martian Salon. Huellas Cultural Center, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2012. Exhibition “La Víspera.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2013. Salon “Guernica.” AHS, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2013. Salon “La Plástica en Abril.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2013. Collective Expo “Art, a Social Image.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2016. First Plastic Arts Salon. Guáimaro Art Gallery, CamagüeY, Cuba.
2016. Collective Expo, Aires de Cubanía. Casa del Alba cultural, Havana, Cuba.
2017. III Edition of the Plastic Arts Salon, Guáimaro, Camagüey, Cuba.
2017. Collective Expo, One of a Hundred, Rita Longa Sculpture Workshop Gallery. Las Tunas, Cuba.
2017. Review of the itinerant collective Expo, Aires de Cubanía, Ibero-American and Caribbean Journal “Arte por Excelencias” Year VII/NO.32/2017/Quarterly. Page: 18.
2018. Salon “La Plástica en Abril” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2019. Collective Miniature Exhibition “Painting, Noble Lady of the Spirit” Ciego de Ávila, Cuba.
2019. Collective Exhibition “Osmosis” AHS, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2020. Tribute Exhibition to Anette Delgado, Havana, Cuba.
2020. Luxembourg International Art Fair 2020
2020. City of Lights Paris International Art Fair 2020
2021. International Fair of Plastic Arts Germany 2021
2021. France International Plastic Arts Fair 2021

Collections
Private collections around the world (France, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Germany, United States, Mexico, Spain) among other major collections in galleries and art centers