The following piece was originally published by Whitehot Magazine.

In an era of global conflict, political uncertainty and pervasive social malaise, Javier Calleja's soppy-eyed characters may offer the perfect distraction: a whimsical escape that demands nothing but offers nostalgia, optimism, whimsy, and the transparent chastity of youth. Calleja's characters, those little heroes who appear to have finished crying only a moment ago and are now on the verge of a smile, are possessed of a worldly and knowing optimism that seems an unlikely asset of real-world kids immured by a future that is anything but certain.

On the eve of his first solo show in New York in eight years, Calleja is neither optimistic, like his youthful characters, nor pessimistic, like most everyone else. "In the world we're living in, two weeks could sometimes feel like a distant future," he said. "So, I'm not busy thinking or planning; I think of it as a surprise."

Still, the Spanish artist is not averse to looking ahead; in fact, that is his singular focus right now as he and his characters prepare for their latest engagemet with New York audiences. His solo exhibition, One true tree for… opens November 8 at Almine Rech’s year-old Tribeca space. 

"It is a dream to show at a NYC venue like Almine Rech's new space in Tribeca!" Calleja told Whitehot on the eve of his New York opening. “I actually didn’t show as much in the US as in Europe and Asia, but I have a lot of good friends and collectors there,…so I’m looking forward to showing in the city again,” he said. 

The show will feature new work – including paintings, works on paper, sculpture and wall treatments – that hews to Calleja’s signature aesthetic, a sort of comic strip tease that blends grown-up pop art sensibilities with references to Charles M. Schulz's childhood gestalt and a hint of R. Crumb’s figurative subversion. 

The exhibition comes at a time when Calleja's star has never burned brighter. He is fresh off highly successful runs at Seoul's Hangaram Art Museum, Parco Museum Tokyo, the Vancouver Centre of International Contemporary Art, and the Centro Cultural Fundación Unicaja in his beloved hometown of Málaga. His paintings have sold for six figures and up at Christie’s and Sotheby's.

The past five years have seen Calleja emerge as a formidable creative force, though his path wasn't always so clearly marked. "I'm not sure if I ever really realized this or if I always knew it," he said of his artistic calling. "It was always something I was passionate about and enjoyed, without planning to leave it behind."

His characters, with their signature bulbous eyes and enigmatic smiles, are becoming contemporary art icons. As José Carlos Diaz, Deputy Director for Art at The Seattle Art Museum, notes, the smiles create "an amusing relationship between the passive, inanimate artwork and the active, engaging viewer."

"My characters are my children," Calleja said, "and through them, I'm responding to how I experience life. Anything from a funny anecdote, a moment, a movie line, song lyrics, part of interaction, or significant news can be transformed into an image."

Calleja’s breakthrough came in 2017, when Hong Kong's Aisho Nanzuka Gallery presented his now-signature characters to the world. These weren't just drawings; they were emotional mirrors, reflecting something raw and universal back at viewers. With their oversized, watery eyes and subtle blush, these boys caught in the liminal space between childhood and adolescence became Calleja's unmistakable signature.

"Nothing was ever the same after that," he said of the Hong Kong show.

Art runs deep in Calleja's background, growing up as he did in Málaga, a historic hotbed of art and the hometown of no less a virtuoso than Pablo Picasso himself. In fact, Calleja’s great-grandfather was one of Pablo Picasso's first art teachers. 

“Málaga, but also Andalucia, and Spain in general, is full of art. It’s hard to avoid it even if you try,” Calleja said. He went on to retell the story of his family’s link to the Spanish master: “Yes, my great grandfather was a known artist around that time in Spain and Pablo Picasso’s father, José Ruiz Blasco, one day approached him asking if he would teach his son as he believed he had a talent. So this is how he ended up being one of the first art teachers of young Pablo,” he said.

While he cites Picasso as an inspiration, and who doesn’t, he also draws on a diverse list of unlikely influences, including the American abstract expressionists, latter-day street artists and other unruly outsiders. 

“I could get inspired by any artist whose work resonates with me. And one of them is definitely Rothko. His use of just color and form to evoke deep emotions and construct a sense of depth and atmosphere has left a strong impact on me and the way I construct my images. Also, speaking of the Ab-Ex movement, Philip Guston is one artist who probably had the biggest influence on me,” he said.

Calleja also draws on the work of some more modern artists, including some who came out of 1990s U.S. graffiti culture, a group that was dubbed the Beautiful Losers in a documentary film and traveling exhibition a decade later.

“I think it’s more the movement, not so much the particular artists, that I found inspiring. The whole Beautiful Losers exhibition in 2005 with Ed Templeton, Margaret Kilgallen, Chris Johanson, but also KAWS and Twist, felt like our generation’s Basquiat, Haring, and Warhol moment,” he said.

Calleja’s most obvious influence, at first blush at least, is Japanese artist Yashitomo Nara. The comparison of Calleja’s characters to Nara’s collection of innocent, yet sinister, young protagonists seems inevitable, but this misses the point. Yes, both artists work with wide-eyed characters, but that's like saying Rothko and Mondrian both used squares. 

“Yeah, people tend to compare my work with Nara’s because it’s an easy thing to do. But those who know his works well can see our works' differences easily. Also, there is a rumor that I was Nara’s assistant, but that isn’t true—I was one of the members of the Contemporary Art Centre Malaga team at the time he had an exhibition there in 2007. So, he is indeed one of my influences, but I’m also inspired by so many other artists,” Calleja said.

While his work might not scream Spanish influence, it carries what he calls a "Mediterranean flavor," drawing from "the harmonious, natural colors around me. There is blue in the sky and the sea, green of the countryside, and yellow of the sun, and I feel that people easily respond to such a palette."

Calleja’s philosophical approach – drawing on the past and embracing the present while remaining open to whatever possibilities the future may hold – has allowed his work to evolve organically while maintaining its essential authenticity. That approach has never been more appropriate.

One true tree for…runs from Nov. 8 through Dec. 14 at Almine Rech’s downtown gallery, 361 Broadway, Tribeca. WM