Victor Castillo

Victor Castillo (b. 1973, Santiago) is a Chilean painter based in Los Angeles, known for dark, surrealist work that blends pop surrealism with classical painting techniques.

Castillo began drawing obsessively at five, inspired by television animations, science-fiction films and album covers such as Pink Floyd's The Wall. His artistic development was profoundly shaped by being born during Chile's military coup in 1973, and much of his work centres on criticising authoritarian societies and the horrors of dictatorship.

After a disappointing experience with art school in Chile, Castillo relocated to Barcelona in 2004. There he worked with Iguapop Gallery and was influenced by Spanish old masters — particularly Goya's Black Paintings at the Prado — which led him to incorporate classical painting elements into his style. His 2007 Iguapop show Explicit Lyrics was critically acclaimed, with El País publishing a full-page feature on his "tragicomic vision" under the title The Triumph of Pop Surrealism.

His practice combines vintage comics, cartoons and graffiti with classical painting references, deploying a 1950s American aesthetic reminiscent of Norman Rockwell and early Disney — an innocent, nostalgic visual language deliberately used to expose dark truths. In 2010 he moved to Los Angeles, where he has continued to exhibit internationally, creating large-scale murals for the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts, the Center for Contemporary Culture Barcelona and museums across Europe.