Born in Spain, 1971. Lives and works in Spain.

A self-professed artist, Calleja’s works are filled with a diverse array of twists and interventions that mirror daily life. As a fan of the works of surrealist master René Magritte, as well as artists Yoshitomo Nara and Chris Johanson, he references their techniques in the context of contemporary portraiture. Still children or not quite teenagers, his signature characters with gigantic, brightly colored eyes confront life head-on, sometimes with tenderness, sometimes with a casual rebelliousness, and always with a keen sense of humor or touch of irony. These endearing characters with their often delusional hopes and desires might look helpless but never seem to give up.

The narratives perceived from the correlation between the images and texts, as well as the explosive interplay of scale between the piece itself and the installation it is situated in, are ingenious ploys on part of the artist. Thanks to this almost hallucinatory distortion, each one of his exhibitions feels like diving into nonsense, harkening back to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Calleja’s work continues fascinate viewers even in the current world in the midst of global issues. One might empathise for the artist and his attempt to confront difficulties through his sharp-witted creativity, along with his optimism.