ANDREW SALGADO

For over a decade, Andrew Salgado has led the contemporary figurative vanguard with paintings that defy genre convention or simple categorization. They are playful but emotive; intricate yet planar; symbolic but also direct. Although the figure remains the core aspect of his paintings, his narrative is complex and inviting, and has earned him accolades and a dedicated international following of collectors and admirers.

Salgado’s subjects are depicted in a fantastical, often ominous tableaux, with any combination of patterns and excess play upon the painted surface, including harlequin-like figures, the motif of a heavy, low-hanging moon; or other (un)recognisable representational motifs sift in and out of the composition, partially obscured or partially revealed. There are abundant references to the tradition of figurative painting, both historic and contemporary, but increasingly an affinity for themes relating to literature, nature, and the self. Reinventing himself with every successive body of work, Salgado’s practice is always surprising, technically inventive, and forever unique. 

ANDREW SALGADO (b. 1982, Regina, Canada) graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art in 2009, and is regarded as one of the United Kingdom’s leading figurative painters. He has exhibited worldwide, with solo exhibitions including London, New York, Tokyo, Miami, Toronto, Cape Town, Sydney, and throughout Europe.

Solo exhibitions include: Tomorrow I'll Be Perfect, presented by BEERS London, Saatchi Gallery, London (2023); CAN Art Fair, Ibiza, Spain (July 2023); Good Things, Piermarq*, Sydney, Australia (2023); The Lotus Eaters, Maki, Tokyo, Japan (2022);  A Never-Setting Sun, BEERS London (2022); Strange Weather, BEERS London (2020); Paperbag Prince, Untitled Art Fair, Miami (2019); Blue Rainbow, Angell Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2018); Dirty Linen/The Nihilist’s Alphabet, Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town, SA (2018); A Room with a View of the Ocean, Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia (2017), TEN, Canadian High Commission, London (2016) and; The Snake, BEERS London (2016).

Group exhibitions include: Flowers: Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture, Saatchi Gallery, London (2025); Fierce Form, Art Megastar, Los Angeles (2024); 13-A-Dozen, Galleri Sanberg, Odense, Denmark (2023); Showstopper, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022); Come Out & Play, BEERS London (2022); PINK, Piermarq*, Sydney, Australia (2022); paper. , BEERS London (2022); Paperwork’s Vol. II, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021); John Wolf presents … Interconnected, Los Angeles (2021); BEERS London at Zona Maco Art Fair, Mexico City (2019); Berlin Calling, Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany (2018); Summer Salon, BEERS London (2018) and; The Therapist’s Office, 1969 Gallery, New York (2018).

In 2017, Salgado was the youngest artist ever to receive a survey exhibition at The Canadian High Commission in London. He has received extensive press both online and in print, and he frequently donates to charities and is a frequent advocate for LGBT causes. His works have successfully entered the secondary market with prices frequently doubling their estimates, including a piece at Phillips New York selling for five times its estimate in June 2021.

His works have been collected extensively, including The Oketa Collection, The Royal Bank of Canada Collection, The Masahiro Maki Collection, Government of Canada, The Jordanian Royal Family, Simmons & Simmons, the Esquinazi Collection, Edwin Oostmeier Collection, and more.

He lives and works in London, England.