The Oneiric Universe

To immerse oneself in the work of Johan Galué, a visual artist from Zulia whose genius lies in the exploration of surrealist imagery, is to undertake an introspective journey where reality blurs and gives way to a universe charged with symbolism and atmospheres that evoke both the familiar and the extraordinary. Born in Maracaibo, Galué draws deeply from the roots of his land and fuses them with the expressive freedom of surrealism, in compositions of seemingly disjointed objects and figures that, observed with care, unveil hidden narratives and a profound dialogue with the subconscious.

Each piece is a story within several stories, charged with an inherent symbolism that invites personal interpretation and resonates with universal archetypes and individual experience. His creations are not mere representations but portals into emotional states, dreams, and reflections on human existence; his ability to give form to the intangible establishes him as a key figure of the contemporary imagination.

The selection at the National Art Gallery allows us to recognize in Zulia the emergence of a movement we might call neo-surrealism, in which Galué acknowledges the influence of artist José Ramón Sánchez (1938-2016) while building a world entirely his own. His work evokes Hieronymus Bosch, a precursor of surrealism, and—through the lens of López-Pedraza, Jung, and John Berger—leads us to reflect on Latin American identity and the collective unconscious: what we observe is not a thing, but the relationship between things and ourselves.