Bea Sarrias

Influenced by 20th-century American realism, Bea Sarrias is a native of Barcelona, a city where she found the themes and spaces that define the most significant lines of her work: architecture and light. Sarrias does not paint buildings but portrays spaces, allowing us to imagine or glimpse the people who have left their mark through the objects they inhabit. Her work, anthropological in nature, incorporates research, photography, and even video to document the present and past life of buildings, suggesting a simultaneous presence and absence of their inhabitants. Her realistic painting is based on the work of important Spanish and international architects, earning her recognition for her virtuosity in handling light and shadow. Bea Sarrias consolidated her architectural style with an extensive series dedicated to the interior of a flat in the Eixample district. When the family that had lived there for a century began dismantling it, books were scattered throughout the rooms, gaining unexpected prominence. From this emotionally charged and historicist experience, featuring a dark and limited color palette, emerged her desire to seek light, austerity, and soft chromatic tones that now characterize her work. She often plays with glass, reflections, and water, elements that allow her to paint the incoming light to tell a story. As she says: "With drawing, I paint the skeleton; with paint, I make the flesh; and with light, I give the soul." This Mediterranean light, present since childhood, bathes her works and guides the viewer through the spaces. Besides Bonet Castellana, Sarrias has portrayed spaces designed by other iconic contemporary architects such as José Antonio Coderch, Josep Lluís Sert, Sáenz de Oiza, Miguel Fisac, and Richard Neutra. Among her most notable projects is Inside, a large-scale portrait painted live in 2019 at NATO headquarters in Brussels. This mural aims to showcase the glass, transparency, and light emanating from the building. Shortly after, she completed an artist residency at Mana Contemporary, New York, where she explored the legacy Josep Lluís Sert left in the city. Bea Sarrias has exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels, New York, and Oslo.