Born in Valencia, Spain in 1951, Santamans demonstrated at an early age
that he was an artistic prodigy. He began his art studies under the
tutelage of some of the most important painters in the region, and by
the time he was fourteen he was working with the noted pastel artist
Professore Benjamin Suria.
His formal training began at the prestigious Academy Barrera of
Valencia, and continued in The School of Fine Arts at the Fuster Academy
under Dr. Suria. In 1968, he met and began studying with painter Jose
Espert, whom Santamans considers his true mentor. Together they formed
the ‘Painters of Riberia’ which defined a new era of figurative painting
in the region. They presented their first group exhibition in May 1969;
before Santamans’ eighteenth birthday.
Though most of his early work was oil on canvas, he switched medium to
pastels. The virtue of pastels is that the colors are almost transparent
in their brilliance, and the degree of subtlety that they afford
results in shadows of nuance is unachievable in other mediums. Extremely
delicate by nature, there are both enormous technical and aesthetic
challenges for the pastel artist to overcome.
His current work involves nudes and still-lifes. He works from life in
his ‘natura morte’ paintings, and paints from natural light. Critics and
viewers comment on how alive Santamans’ paintings seem. They possess a
clarity that is three- dimensional- as if the objects could be lifted
out of the canvas. His nudes are sensuous and seem lifelike. He achieves
intense depth of color penetration, yet his work remains a delicate
play of light and shadow.
