Celebrating contemporary figure painting | Osvaldo Sequeira UCR: Space

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On Monday 25 August 2025, the gallery at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) will inaugurate ESPACIO (translated as "SPACE"), a solo exhibition by Costa Rican painter Osvaldo Sequeira, as part of its 85th anniversary celebrations. Running until 8 October, the show is a milestone in Sequeira’s career and a tribute to one of the country’s most significant cultural institutions.

For those who know his work through MÍRAME Fine Art, this exhibition offers new work by an artist whose practice focuses on observation, memory, and space.

Continue reading as we take a closer look at the contemporary figure painting of Osvaldo Sequeira.

Introduction to Sequeira

Born in 1969, Osvaldo Sequeira first trained and worked as an illustrator, having graduated from the University of Costa Rica with a degree in Graphic Design. He founded the animation studio Estudio Flex, which gained national and international recognition.

This illustration background remains evident in his paintings today: he has a keen eye for contour, attention to detail, and an instinct for narrative that can be found even his most abstracted works.

His paintings frequently portray people in transit either in San José, Costa Rica's capital city, or on a beautiful beach somewhere in the country: figures glimpsed on a street corner, faces caught mid-thought on public transport, the posture of a lone walker absorbed in their own rhythm or a dog walker captured in the unique light of Guanacaste.

What makes Sequeira’s work so distinctive is the way these scenes are filtered. It's like he paints memory onto the canvas; his subjects are usually slightly obscured, either with softened edges or obstructed by a physical object, reflecting time, light, and mood. Sequeira documents the act of imperfect perceiving. His figures appear through visual “interference”: a rain-streaked window, a pane of glass, or a watery reflection. Everyday life is there, but mediated, fragile, and open to interpretation.

Osvaldo Sequeira, El Vieje, Acrylic on canvas

Beyond his studio, Sequeira is committed to Costa Rica's contemporary art scene. He runs Galería Etérea in Los Yoses, San José, which is a space where he can present his own projects as well as support and exhibit other Costa Rican artists. This dual role as artist and facilitator has made him an important figure in the capital’s art community, as someone who contributes to the visibility and sustainability of contemporary practice in the country.

Introducing ESPACIO

With ESPACIO, Sequeira takes this exploration further with his new paintings, using the title of SPACE as a theme and a proposition. The exhibition suggests that the places we inhabit are never neutral. Streets, buses, cafés, and anonymous thoroughfares carry the imprint of our presence, even when fleeting.

The three new paintings included here are part of the body of work presented at UCR:

Osvaldo Sequeira, Untitled 1, Acrylic on canvas

The above painting (Untitled 1) presents a seated figure in an ambiguous urban setting, perhaps a coffee shop or a bench; they are half-absorbed into the fractured reflections of surrounding walls. The brushwork breaks the scene into painterly “shards,” as though the environment were pressing in, shaping the subject. We are looking at a caught moment in time, voyeuristically studying a person lost in their own transient moment.

Osvaldo Sequeira, Untitled 2, Acrylic on canvas

This painting (Untitled 2) develops this idea with greater chromatic intensity. Blues, violets, and oranges jostle across the canvas, framing a profile that feels immediate, yet the figure also feels distant, as though we're looking at them from afar. The brushwork and disjointed colour palette suggests movement, as though we're watching fragments of somebody or a city whizz past on a bus. Here, Sequeira makes colour a spatial force, which suggests a psychic weight of a moment suspended in transit.

Osvaldo Sequeira, Untitled 3, Acrylic on canvas

Untitled 3 takes a different approach, placing the viewer directly behind a solitary figure in a yellow coat, walking into an urban thoroughfare. The clarity of the stance contrasts with the hazy, impressionistic rendering of the street around them. The result is a painting that balances anonymity with intimacy: anyone could be this figure, yet the scene feels uncannily specific. We know what we're looking at, but Sequeira takes us out of familiarity.

Each of these works reinforces Sequeira’s interest in how we move through the world and how the world, in turn, imprints itself upon us.

Why This Moment Matters

ESPACIO feels timely. The exhibition asks us to reconsider the value of everyday encounters in an era when so much of life is mediated through screens and digital impressions. Sequeira’s paintings remind us that the act of simply observing, whether it's watching someone cross the street, or catching sight of a face in a window, can be quietly profound.

The exhibition is also a celebration of Costa Rican contemporary figure painting, presenting Sequeira as a unique and innovative artist painting in Costa Rica today.

An Invitation

Sequeira says said that he hopes the exhibition will be “an afternoon to enjoy, chat and celebrate art together.”

If you are in San José, we encourage you to visit ESPACIO at UCR to enjoy Sequeira's contemporary figure painting up-close and to consider how our own lives intersect with the anonymous, fleeting, yet deeply human passages of others.

The exhibition opens Monday 25 August at 3:00 pm at the UCR Gallery and runs until 8 October.

If you’re interested in learning more about Osvaldo Sequeira’s work or inquiring about available paintings, please get in touch with us at MÍRAME (contact details below invitation).

Invitation to Espacio, University of Costa Rica

MÍRAME Contact Information:

MÍRAME Fine Art

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Osvaldo Sequiera | Contemporary Figure Painting