In the world of Asturian art, a solitary figure has left a lasting mark. Carlos Sierra Cueto, a giant in existence, trajectory, and creative spirit, passed away this morning at the age of 79. His career is defined by transcendent realism—pierced by magic and nature—and profoundly anchored in drawing, a practice he felt as an urgent need from childhood in his homeland of Lieres (Siero).
Carlos Sierra endured a stroke four years ago. He slowly rebuilt his strength, returned to the workshop, and in recent years his paintings found a rhythm drawn from nature. Yet health deteriorated again in recent months, and his family announced his death in Oviedo on Sunday morning.
His career flowed outside the boundaries of commercial fashion, reflecting a bohemian, rebellious spirit shaped by time in Paris and Ibiza. Notable tributes include the Luarca National Painting Competition in 1987 and the 1997 showcase “Lighted Reality” at the City of Oviedo Center for Modern Art, which underscored his singular voice.
With roots in the Langrean lineage, a childhood sense of epic legend fueled his imagination. He drew with butcher’s paper in Siero and later continued the habit in Oviedo, turning burlap into canvas. He found a home in Oviedo that endured despite changing times, nurturing a professional path that began in advertising graphics and led to early connections with LA NUEVA ESPAÑA through figures like Gisbert and Manolo Brun, followed by collaborations with others. In 1964 he earned a gold medal at the National Youth Art Competition, a prize that opened doors to Barcelona and new artistic climates. During the 1960s, he spent five years in Paris, supported himself as a portrait painter in Montmartre, and immersed himself in existentialist and post-impressionist currents. His first two exhibitions in those years, held in the Oviedo and Gijón Athenaeums in 1966, marked the start of a long, explorative journey.
In the 1970s his life carried him to Ibiza, where he formed a partnership and fathered children. There he encountered orientalist movements and Taoism, crossing paths with Eduardo Úrculo, who settled on the island as well. The encounter broadened his horizons and fed his pursuit of a broader, more spiritual realism.
Upon returning to Oviedo and establishing residence, Sierra continued to pursue a form of far-realism rooted in the Spanish hyperrealist tradition. His painting style bears distinctive marks: a sense of drama, a poetic veil, a restrained color palette, and a constant curiosity about nature presented as a probing question. He reduced figures to their essential elements, favoring composition that foregrounds the essential rather than the extraneous, a technique that invites contemplation and interpretation.