Antoni Carrera "Karris" — Dreamlike Scene (2002) — Watercolor on paper

A panoramic watercolour by Antoni Carrera “Karris”, combining a hilly landscape with three columns topped by a globe and two fruits.

Moving beyond the Olot school towards a dreamlike landscape

Behind the established signature “Karris” is Antoni Carrera (Olot, 1963), an artist with an international presence, including exhibitions from New York to the Florence Biennale, whose academic background is rooted in landscape. Trained at the prestigious School of Fine Arts in Olot, Karris chose to move beyond classical landscape painting. Dated 2002, this work is a visual statement of what he himself defines as his “Surrealist-Figurative-Mediterranean” period.

The artist uses softly rolling hills, possibly those of his native Garrotxa, and a sunset sky rich in purples and golds solely as a backdrop. The composition’s main focus is the foreground: three truncated columns, surrounded by thorny climbing plants, serve as unnatural pedestals supporting the Earth, an orange and a cherry. It is an enigmatic composition that invites reflection on the weight of nature, the global in relation to the local, and the fragility of the ecosystem.

Fluid washes and cinematic proportions

The horizontal format, approximately 12 × 33 cm, arranges the three columns in a sequence from left to right. The sky’s washes shift from violet to yellow, while the green foreground links the pedestals with the distant hills.

Technical details

• Artist: Antoni Carrera “Karris” (Olot, 1963).
• Title / subject: Dreamlike scene / Symbolic nature (Figurative Surrealism).
• Year: 2002.
• Medium and support: Original fluid watercolour on continuous paper.
• Documented dimensions: Approximately 12 × 33 cm (very wide horizontal / panoramic format).
• Signature and inscriptions: Hand-signed in ink “Karris” and dated “02” in the lower left corner.
• Style / movement: Mediterranean Surrealism / Development of the Olot school.
• Provenance: Private collection.
• Condition: The colours retain their transparency and saturation, particularly the purples in the sky and the blue of the globe. No signs of oxidation are apparent in the photographs.

The Workshop Note

The three columns are of different heights and are traced by green stems with small red flowers. The globe, orange and cherry form a sequence of rounded shapes on these vertical supports. In the background, the hills and the violet and yellow sky extend the composition’s horizontal rhythm.