Franco Salas Borquez (b. 1979, Chile / France) is a contemporary Franco-Chilean painter born on the island of Chiloé, Chile. He currently lives and works in France. Raised in a family of sailors, his early and intimate relationship with the ocean has profoundly shaped his artistic practice, making the sea both his primary subject and his conceptual foundation.

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Through a distinctive and expressive pictorial language, Salas Borquez explores the sea not merely as a landscape, but as a metaphysical space charged with memory, power, and human vulnerability. His work is rooted in an instinctive yet disciplined approach, where gesture and material interact to convey the overwhelming force and perpetual movement of the ocean.

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This investigation into the marine world is achieved through a rich combination of techniques and materials. Salas Borquez works with oil paint, ink, graphite, marble powder, and oil pastel, layering and manipulating these media to evoke the depth, turbulence, and luminosity of water. His fluid brushwork and dynamic surfaces create a tension between control and release, allowing the viewer to experience the sea as both a physical and emotional presence.

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Salas Borquez’s practice is deeply connected to the history of maritime painting, while firmly positioned within a contemporary context. Rather than depicting the sea as a fixed image, he captures its essence through movement and abstraction, emphasizing sensation over representation. The ocean in his work becomes a living force—simultaneously captivating and threatening—reflecting humanity’s enduring fascination with nature’s immensity.

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The artist describes painting the sea as an act requiring absolute fluidity of gesture, one that dissolves the boundaries between the artist and the material. This approach transforms the act of painting into a nearly metaphysical experience, where the surface of the canvas becomes a site of encounter between human consciousness and elemental power.

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Salas Borquez’s work has received international recognition and is held in both public and private collections worldwide. He has been awarded the Prize of the Institute of Maritime History and Culture of Spain at the Naval Museum of Madrid, and has been distinguished at the Salon de la Marine in Paris. His works are included in collections such as the Naval Museum of Madrid, the Naval Museum of Punta Arenas, and the Citadel of Saint-Tropez.

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In his recent series and exhibitions, notably Mer Primitive (2025) at the Mineralium in Saint-Malo, Salas Borquez draws upon the idea of a primordial encounter with the ocean. Inspired by the image of a primitive human discovering the sea for the first time—both awed and fearful—the artist seeks to recapture that moment of raw intensity and wonder. Through large-scale works combining oil, ink, graphite, and pigments, he invites the viewer into an immersive contemplation of the sea as an origin, a memory, and a force beyond human control.

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Through this synthesis of material experimentation, gestural painting, and symbolic depth, Franco Salas Borquez’s work offers a powerful sensory and contemplative experience, invoking the universal memory of water and confronting the viewer with the timeless and untamable nature of the ocean.