Isaac Crespo Cuban

Isaac Crespo's drawings and paintings show exquisite technical accuracy. He creates situations where the absurd and irrational intertwines with characters drawn from real life. Often dressed as clowns, his male figures have a diabolical, disturbing look.

Crespo always adds the company of animals and insects - mainly flies – as part of the lunar landscape which gives unity to all his compositions. The son of a painter and art teacher, Isaac grows in an environment that encourages him to draw from an early age. In his work, we find numerous references to art history and literature, from Kafka's Metamorphosis to his virtuoso reproduction of Dürer's famous rhino engraving (1515).

He also deals with iconography of surreal elements, such as forks stabbing the body of an animal, mouths inserted in medallions, insects or eggs from which new things emerge. In his satirical choral scenes and carnivalesque tone, we can see the imprint of James Ensor, Belgian painter of the nineteenth-century precursor of Expressionism.

Crespo's artistic career was interrupted for two decades for his problems with drugs. In 2000 he recovered and returned to the brushes and canvas as a form of therapy. He has taken part in exhibitions in Latin America, USA, and Europe.

Courtesy of Naemi.