JOSÉ LUIS SERZO
ABOUT
(b. 1977, Albacete, Spain)
José Luis Serzo uses figuration to build visual narratives that blend painting, scenography, and literature. His theatrical and detailed compositions utilize light, texture, and color to craft highly symbolic images. Inspired by classical painting but with a contemporary perspective, Serzo expands the limits of the canvas through installations and objects that enrich the viewer’s experience. Conceptually, he explores personal and universal mythologies, addressing themes such as transformation, the reality-fiction duality, and the spectacle society. Each series forms a chapter within an interconnected universe that invites reflection on human nature and the search for meaning in a world saturated with images and stories.
FEATURED ARTWORKS
El Viaje de Michael Burton Junior | José Luis Serzo
2021 | 100 x 100 cm | Acrylic and oil on canvas
El Viaje de Michael Burton Junior II | José Luis Serzo
2023 | 65 x 54 cm | Oil on canvas
Mujer y Jabalí | José Luis Serzo
2018 | 50 x 50 cm | Oil on canvas
Musa y el Teatrorum | José Luis Serzo
2018 | 30 x 30 cm | Oil on canvas
El Juego Secreto | José Luis Serzo
2022 | 50 x 64 cm | Oil on wood
El juego secreto de la obsesión | José Luis Serzo
2021 | 22 x 12 cm | Oil on canvas
CURRENT EXHIBITION
THE EVOLUTION OF NARRATIVE FIGURATION
September 2025 - March 2026
José Luis Serzo constructs theatrical worlds where fiction, memory, and identity collide. Blending painting, sculpture, and drawing, his work unfolds like visual allegories—baroque, ironic, and emotionally charged. Through layers of symbolism and invented characters, Serzo explores desire, contradiction, and the transformative power of narrative.
INQUIRIES ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Contact us if you want to know more about this artist, get information about a specific piece, or view more of their available artworks.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
THE RETURN OF MICHAEL BURTON JR.
September 2024 - March 2025
José Luis Serzo crafts a vivid theatrical universe in The Return of Michael Burton Junior, blending romantic landscapes, Dadaist echoes, and personal mythology into a multilayered narrative of fiction and introspection. Irony, allegory, and a baroque excess converge in this expansive visual tale—part painting, part installation, part dream—where the artist resurrects an alter ego to question identity, history, and the politics of storytelling. Serzo’s work operates as an “oracular theater,” inviting viewers into an imagined world where darkness becomes a fertile ground for reinvention, and the artifice of fiction reveals deeper truths.
EVENTS & FAIRS
ENEAS
June 2025
Madrid, Spain
ENEAS was a one-night collective exhibition curated by Saisho in collaboration with Eneaverso.
Held in Madrid, it brought together 21 contemporary artists and over 600 guests—including collectors, curators, and critics—in a multisensory journey through eight levels of artistic experimentation: from composition and material to light, texture, and technique. Inspired by the myth of Aeneas and structured around curatorial criteria rather than trends, ENEAS marked a new approach to experiencing and valuing contemporary art.
