Kiko Alcazar

There’s an ostensibly innocent enchantment to the work of Kiko Alcázar, a literally wide-eyed naïveté that belies his sophisticated artistry and ironic aesthetic.
He portrays many of his subjects with a quality of timeless youth and playfulness. As a photographer, Kiko Alcázar infuses his medium with painterly and cartoon qualities, blurringdigital realism and fantasy to create ageless, doll-like portraits of his subjects, and distinguishing each with its own characteristic expressiveness. The preternaturally huge gazes delight of his “Toys” serie, seduce and intrigue like disarmingly precocious children. His photographies are an extension of his imagination, but they also reflect the culture at large and its ironic contradictions: youth and age, innocence and sexuality, realness and artificiality.

Born and educated in Tarragona, Spain, Kiko Alcázar taught himself photography after leaving art school, which he felt wasn’t a good fit. Encouraged by an award from the Tate Modern and by people such as Grace Coddington, Boy George, Princess Stephanie and Prince Albert of Monaco or Marcus Leatherdale, he dedicated himself to creating his own distinctive style, rendering Photoshop virtually into a fine art. Now Barcelona-based, Kiko Alcázar’s photographic subjects include some of the most acclaimed pop stars and celebrities.