LUIS ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ LEÓN
BACKGROUND
Luis Antonio is a Colombian visual artist who came to Do Picho with his wife Johana Arango and 6-year-old daughter in November 2024, just after an exhibition of his work in Geneva, Switzerland (Instagram).
He works in drawing and painting. His work has been exhibited mainly in galleries in Colombia, and he currently directs the educational project Alto Relieve that promotes the training and dissemination of young art.
His artistic practice focuses on the exploration of dreams as a source of inspiration. The dream world as a symbolic space and the ambiguous and mysterious scenes from which he starts, aim to account for a poetic and personal reality that lives on in the dream.
ANTONIO’S DO PICHO PROJECT
During his residency Luis Antonio investigated how the dreams, aspirations and wellbeing of people in Palas de Rei are being affected by the prospect that ALTRI may build a mega pulp factory just outside Palas; and did a series of paintings reflecting what people told him.
After many meetings with people in Palas de Rei and surroundings, Luis Antonio produced these paintings that represent how the dreams and aspirations of people are being impacted by the project of the construction of a mega pulp factory by the Portuguese multinational paper company Altri at the border of Palas.
While he and his family left at the end of November 2024, he remains committed to the project “The dreams of others” and to the fight for the preservation of the environment, culture, and a way of life in Central Galicia. On Saturday, November 23, 2024, his exhibition “Roubar o soño” opened at the Castelo de Pambre in Palas de Rei, featuring his Do Picho works and nearly 30 of his previous works. Since the exhibition closed, his Do Picho works have been exhibited in various public places in Palas de Rei and some of his previous paintings are for sale at Nova Rua Arte gallery in Lugo, while others remain at Do Picho, for direct sale by Antonio.
