Bio
Carlos Herraiz’s artistic practice explores the relationships between materiality, perception and the ways we inhabit and communicate with the world. Through painting, installation, drawing and site-responsive research, he works with found materials, everyday objects and subtle gestures to investigate themes of fragility, repair, memory and the invisible traces that shape our experience of places and human relationships.
Born in Barcelona in 1995, Herraiz moved to Edinburgh at the age of eighteen to begin his artistic studies at the Leith School of Art. It was during this period that his interest in material experimentation and human relationships first emerged, initially through painting while studying at the Glasgow School of Art and later at the Barcelona Academy of Art. Over time, his practice gradually expanded beyond painting towards installation, performance and research-based methodologies.
He has been a grant-supported artist-in-residence at the Leith School of Art, as well as in Kavala (Greece), Berlin (Germany), and East London (South Africa). His work has been presented at international platforms including Festival Concéntrico, SWAB Barcelona Art Fair and ARCO Lisboa (with BETA Contemporary, Barcelona), alongside solo and group exhibitions in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, East London and Barcelona. His recent solo exhibitions include Nomeolvides, curated by Vanesa Peña Alarcón, and Muda and Velar at BETA Contemporary.
In his current practice, Carlos develops long-term artistic research through walking, observation and fieldwork, allowing projects to emerge intuitively from encounters with materials, places and communities. Following the completion of the Postgraduate Programme in Body and Art at Alas, Barcelona (2023–2024), his work has increasingly incorporated performative processes and site-responsive approaches, exploring minimal gestures, the notion of the infra-thin, and alternative ways of relating to territory through attention, materiality and lived experience.
Education
2026 PERI/FERAL, Einaidea, Barcelona
2023 Arte y Cuerpo Postgraduate, Alas, Barcelona
2019 Graduate Residency, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
2018 Painting and Drawing Programe, Barcelona Academy of Art
2016 Painting and Printmaking, Glasgow School of Art
2015 Painting Course, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
2015 Drawing Course, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
2014 Foundation Course, Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
Solo Exhibitions
2026 VELAR, Beta, Barcelona
2024 NOMEOLVIDES, Beta, Barcelona
2023 MUDA, Beta, Barcelona
2021 SURCOS, Galería H2O, Barcelona
2021 DE/CONSTRUCTION, SomoS, Berlín
2020 INTROS, Fireflies Gallery
2020 SPECTRUM, Fireflies Gallery
2019 RASTROGRAFÍAS, Pasaje Montoya, Barcelona
2019 BLURRED BOUNDARIES, Mafic Space, Barcelona
2018 AUSENCIAS, I Am Not Dead, Barcelona
2017 AQUELLO QUE SE PUEDE EXPLICAR, ¿PARA QUÉ PINTARLO?, BoxBarcelona, Barcelona
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 GLOPS, Young Art Biennial, Fundació Lluís Coromina, Barcelona
2026 PERI/FERAL Symposium, Fundació Enric Miralles, Barcelona
2025 GLOPS, Young Art Biennial, Vilafranca del Penedès
2024 Summer Salon, Beta, Barcelona
2023 CONCÉNTRICO 09, Design and Architecture International Festival, Logroño
2020 XXVI PAINTING PRIZE "CIUTAT D'ALGEMESÍ" Valencia
2020 WORK IN PROCESS SomoS, Berlin
2020 REVISITED SomoS, Berlin
2020 DIAGONALE II Verwalterhaus, Berlin
2019 COLOURS – Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh
2019 Graduate Residency – St. James Centre- Edinburgh
2019 Teorema Festival – Amuleto Gallery, Barcelona
2018 Misnoma – Mau Mau, Barcelona
2017 BoxBarcelona Exhibition Opening– BoxBarcelona, Barcelona
2016 Let’s Limbo – SWG3, Glasgow
2016 PAT TESTED – Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery; The McLellan Galleries, GSA, Glasgow
2016 PAINTERS IN PROGRESS Old Hairdressers, Glasgow
2016 Savoy Centre Gallery – Glasgow
2016 Grace & Clark Fyfe Gallery – Glasgow
2015 Leith School of Art Summer Exhibition, Edimburgh
Grants and Residences
2021 - 2022 Driftwood Studios residency, South Africa
2020 - 2021 Graduate Artist at SomoS Art Space, Berlin
2019 Petra Air Residencia, Kavala, Greece
2018 - 2019 Graduate Residency (Scolarship) – Leith School of Art
2020 XXVI Painting Prize “Ciutat d’Algemesí, Short Listed
2016 Richard Ford Award Short Listed
2015 Spoon Prize – Leith School of Art