Cristian Mesa Velazquez (XX-XXI) - Estallido de Espuma

Bust of Foam
Oil on canvas · 62 x 43 cm · 2026

A boy leaps backward into the viewer, one arm thrown toward the sky and the other extended to the side, in a gesture of total surrender to the movement — there is no calculation in that pose, only the pure impulse to jump into a wave just as it breaks. The body tilts diagonally, captured mid-jump that no longer stays on the ground: the feet barely brush the foam, all the weight is in the air.

Technically, this is one of the pieces furthest from the photographic treatment that dominates the rest of the catalog. The skin is resolved in blocks of warm color — oranges, sienna, pinks — applied with broad, confident brushstrokes, not aiming for the smooth modeling of the underwater works; and over those blocks, small touches of pure white, almost relief-like, mark droplets of water suspended in the exact instant that the oil freezes.

The true technical protagonist is the wave. The lower foam is built up with heavy impasto — paint applied with a spatula or a very loaded brush, in layers that physically overlap on the canvas — creating an almost sculptural surface of whites, creams, and blue-greys that conveys the turbulence of the water better than any fine detail could. The sea and the sky, by contrast, are resolved in broader, calmer bands of blue, letting all visual energy concentrate on that foam base and on the figure emerging from it.

It is a piece that expands the artist’s range: where the rest of the catalog works with the introspection of the adult body submerged, here the theme is unfiltered physical joy, viewed from outside the water rather than from within. It shares with those works the interest in the frozen instant, but the tone changes completely — from contained stillness to pure celebration of movement.

Technique: oil on canvas
Measurements: 62 x 43 cm
100% hand-made by the artist
Includes certificate of authenticity
Ships unframed for maximum transport safety


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

Education
2013- Intermediate Level in Plastic Arts. Professional Academy of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.

Group exhibitions (selection)
2010. Nicolás Guillén Iconographic Salon. UNEAC, Las Tunas, Cuba
2010. Exhibition “Vástagos.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2011. Martiano 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. Martiano 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 “Plastic in April.” 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. Art Gallery of Guáimaro, 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, Sculpture Workshop Gallery Rita Longa. Las Tunas, Cuba.
2017. Review of the itinerant collective expo Aires de Cubanía, Ibero-American and Caribbean Review “Arte por Excelencias” Year VII/NO.32/2017/Quarterly. Page: 18.
2018. Salon “Plastic in April” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2019. Collective Miniature Expo “Painting, Noble Lady of the Spirit” Ciego de Ávila, Cuba.
2019. Collective Expo “Osmosis” AHS, Las Tunas, Cuba.
2020. Tribute Expo to Anette Delgado, Havana, Cuba.
2020 International Art Fair LUXEMBOURG 2020
2020 International Fair City of Lights Paris 2020
2021 International Art Fair GERMANY 2021
2021 International Fine Arts Fair France 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