Felipe Almendros - Terraza Ocaña

Felipe Almendros — Expanded artistic biography

Felipe Almendros (born 1976), raised in the Llefià neighborhood of Badalona, is a visual artist, painter, illustrator, comic author, and audiovisual creator. His work is characterized by a strong autobiographical and documentary component, and it unfolds across painting, drawing, graphic novels, animation, and cinema.

After an initial phase linked to drawing and comics, Almendros begins to develop a personal pictorial body of work focused on his closest surroundings. His paintings depict people, spaces, and situations linked to the outskirts of Barcelona, nightlife, popular culture, and personal memory. Over time, his painting progressively shifts the marginal landscape toward scenes of leisure, interiors, parties, and characters from Barcelona’s nocturnal world.

His pictorial language is figurative, direct, and rooted in realism, though distant from pure photographic reproduction. The brushwork, artificial lighting, framing, and the construction of the scene function as narrative elements. Much of his output stems from lived experiences, his own photographs, and people from his circle, creating a kind of visual autobiography.

Art critic Andrea García Casal has related this aspect of his work to the historical tradition of bambochada, understood as the representation of popular, festive, and everyday scenes, transposed here to the contemporary urban context.

Exhibitions

Felipe Almendros’s exhibition trajectory includes shows in galleries, cultural institutions, and art spaces in Spain, Japan, and Italy:

2008 — ADN Gallery, Barcelona
Launch of Save Our Souls accompanied by plastic works linked to the universe of the publication.

2012 — Freedonia Gallery, Barcelona

2014 — Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona
Participation in a group exhibition dedicated to Catalan authors.

2016 — Hell Gallery, Barcelona
Exhibition of a series of portraits and scenes linked to his personal and urban surroundings. RTVE highlighted at the time that the show included portraits of family members and friends from his street, in addition to elements related to his graphic work VIP.

2017 — Instituto Cervantes of Tokyo, Japan
VIP exhibition, with oil portraits, drawings, animations, and other works linked to his graphic novels. The show had the collaboration of Institut Ramon Llull and was covered by Agencia EFE and La Vanguardia.

2017 — FNAC Callao, Madrid

2017 — FNAC El Triangle, Barcelona

2018 — Ratata Festival, Macerata, Italy

2018 — Librería Molar, Madrid

2018 — Bibav Gallery, Barcelona

2019 — Meteoro Gallery, Barcelona

2021 — Yoko Art Gallery, Barcelona
Artist-in-residence at the gallery, where he presented works belonging to the DIY and Ocaña series.

2022 — CentroCentro Cibeles, Madrid
Participation in the group exhibition Madrid Metal. An Illustrated History of the 80s.

Graphic novel and publications

Almendros’s graphic and pictorial work maintains a close thematic and autobiographical relationship.

His main publications are:

2009 — Save Our Souls — Apa Apa
2011 — R.I.P. — Penguin Random House
2015 — SOS — Agrume, French edition
2017 — VIP — Penguin Random House

VIP closed an autobiographical trilogy begun with Save Our Souls and R.I.P. and drew wide media attention. VICE published an extensive interview about his creative process and the relationship between autobiography, fiction, painting, and graphic novel.

Audiovisual and animation

Parallel to his pictorial and editorial work, Almendros has developed a sustained career in animation, video creation, and music videos.

Among his collaborations are with:

Remate — Gigante (2012), Dawn Wiener (2018), Quanzhou, New Jersey (2020)
Technopolitans — Koala (2016)
Clara Te Canta — Orgía Sideral (2018)
J. Vega — Graham Coxon on Drugs (2019), Nostos (2021)
Santo Drama — Diablo (2020)
Wild Honey — Dinosaurios y supermercados (2021)
Cora Yako — Uno entre un millón (2022)
Sex Shop Boyz — Brave Enough
Belmonte — Entrenador

He also produced animation work for MTV / MGZ! TV Magazine.

Cinema and acknowledgments

Felipe Almendros has also participated in film projects related to his autobiographical universe.

In 2020 he starred in El arte de frío, a film by Ander Duque, for which he won Best Actor at the Cinespaña festival.

Subsequently he participated as co-author in Burnout, a film by Ander Duque and Felipe Almendros.

Official website
https://felipealmendros.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/felipealmendros/

Press references

RTVE
https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20160701/felipe-almendros-creacion-vive-esclava-del-gusta-facebook/1365803.shtml

La Vanguardia
https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170203/413974121977/el-comic-urbano-y-musical-de-felipe-almendros-llega-a-tokio-con-un-exposicion.html

El País
https://elpais.com/cultura/2020-05-19/asi-es-quanzhou-new-jersey-una-pieza-creada-por-el-musico-remate-y-el-ilustrador-felipe-almendros.html

Mondo Sonoro
https://www.mondosonoro.com/noticias-actualidad-musical/el-diablo-viste-de-santo-drama/

NOWNESS
https://www.nowness.com/topic/felipe-almendros/remate-dawn-wiener