FANTASY - INFINITE QUEST: LUIS ROYO & ROMULO ROYO

FROM MARCH 4TH TO JUNE 14TH 2026

Laberinto Gris presents a new exhibition: "Fantasy - Infinite Quest", a manifest to the genre of Fantasy Art and a celebration of its pioneer artists, Luis Royo and Romulo Royo. Pulled from the dream of fantasy, seemingly impossible worlds and characters come to life through the format of contemporary art and to our gallery, to invite you to the imagination of new realities.

Since time immemorial, humankind has dreamed of materializing that which lies beyond the reach of reality. The unknown, the impossible, the imagined, whether longed for or feared, have been endless obsessions of universal thought. Throughout history, these concerns have been immortalized through mythologies and collective fantasies.

Today, they arrive at Laberinto Gris through contemporary art by artists such as Luis Royo and Romulo Royo, absolutely essential figures to the Fantasy Art genre and to the history of ever-growing contemporary art. “Fantasy – Infinite Quest” presents a selection of works by these artists that best illustrate their careers as pioneers of this artistic language.

 

ATHENEA FLEEING FROM ATHENEA, Luis Royo.

Óleo sobre lienzo, 130 x 195 cm (51.18 x 76.77 in)

 

INANNA II (GODDESSES OF NIBIRU SERIES), Romulo Royo.

Acrílico y óleo sobre lienzo, 73 x 92 cm (28.74 x 36.22 in)

   

   

Fantasy Art as a contemporary synthesis of artistic traditions.

“Phantasia paints in the soul the images (…) of vision, or of another sensation.”

Plato

Luis Royo and Romulo Royo are true emblems of Fantasy Art, an artistic language that brings together science fiction and fantasy literature and cinema.

They represent two complementary approaches to Fantasy Art. Luis Royo offers a universal vision of the genre through sensory evocations and dark fantasies, characterized by sensuality, eroticism, and provocation. Romulo Royo, in his approach through plastic art, often on a large scale, recreates the world of dreams and mystery within the context of a new surrealist art. He thus embraces a conceptual view that invites reflection on the inner world.

Together, they have forged a path toward the revaluation of these themes within contemporary art discourse. They celebrate the popular conception of fantasy and merge it with concepts traditionally considered more elevated within aesthetic. This way, they position Fantasy Art where it truly belongs: as a matter of primary importance and of universal significance in the history of art.

THE MONASTERY OF THE RED WITCHES, Luis Royo.

Acuarela, acrílico con aerógrafo y óleo sobre papel, 92 x 63.5 cm (36.22 x 25 in)

The mythology of the feminine.

The sacred woman is the great protagonist of these works. Artemis, Astarte, Athena, Kali, and other deities from ancient mythologies appear as primordial elements in the work of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo. They reinvent the archetype of the divine woman in their own distinctive ways, bringing these visions together in compositions of great delicacy without diminishing the strength of these consecrated figures.

In the work by Luis Royo, the female figure emerges from the surface to assume her rightful role as an eternal heroine, a sensual yet equally powerful amazon. In turn, Romulo Royo presents a female figure imbued with mystery, the absolute protagonist of the composition, who consistently invites introspection.

Thus, each offers a deeply personal interpretation that places the feminine at a confluence of the vastness of the sublime, the intimacy of sensuality, and the eternity of the sacred.

The reinterpretation of the Great Masters.

The great masters of art history also made their own incursions into these foreign and unknown realms. One immediately thinks of the exploration of dreams by the master Francisco de Goya, the luminous mysticism of Rembrandt van Rijn, or the imagined delights of Hieronymus Bosch. They already illustrated a pictorial imaginary of the occult and the oneiric that is now recovered and reinterpreted.

From this lineage emerge figures drawn from impossible dreams, enveloping atmospheres, and a profound mastery of technique, composition, and the use of color. Luis Royo and Romulo Royo rediscover these universes through works that unite tradition and innovation, placing Fantasy Art in a privileged position. It is at once supported by centuries of pictorial heritage and re-signified within the contemporary context as a developing genre, carried forward under the guidance of these artists.

Romanticism: reflection of the self.

Subjectivity, emotion, and mysticism likewise reappear in the works of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo. Taking the concept of fantasy as the reflection of the self and as the absolutely personal expression of each artist’s inner world, they develop a distinctive visual language filled with icons and symbolic spaces that confer new meaning upon the idea of the sublime.

The central figure, eternally feminine in these pieces, appears in settings that themselves evoke the immensity of an imagined dimension. A non-place that is presented here as both possible and impossible.

FALLEN ANGEL IV, Luis Royo.

Acuarela, acrílico con aerógrafo y óleo sobre papel, 72 x 45 cm (28.35 x 17.72 in)

Between science and fiction: the creation of new mythologies.

One of the languages that nourishes Fantasy Art derives from late 20th-century science fiction and fantasy literature, cinema, illustration, and video games. These sources recreate mythical creatures and monsters, warriors and heroes, even spacecraft or landscapes entirely alien to our contemporary reality.

These characters turned into icons and these apocalyptic, desolate landscapes have the leading role in a pictorial narrative that is rooted in popular culture and elevated to the highest degree of human creation.

Eastern influence.

The echo of the Asian world is yet another brushstroke within the work of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo. Eastern culture appears here in different forms, whether through myths or classical icons.

In any case, this Eastern influence stands as another essential characteristic of these pieces, lending its qualities to the artists’ particular reinterpretations.

TIME ERASED THE KYOGEN THEATRE, Romulo Royo.

Óleo sobre lienzo, 180 x 150 cm (59.06 x 70.87 in)

The oneiric world of Luis Royo and Romulo Royo.

All these elements are articulated with great mastery by Luis Royo and Romulo Royo in the creation of an absolutely personal artistic language that defines the path to follow within Fantasy Art. They visualize the impossible and present it through figurative elements that invite reflection and a journey into new or foreign worlds.

They create a cosmos that urges us to explore the intersection between the known and the unknown, the beautiful and the unsettling, the real and the inexplicable. Through fantasy, they succeed in painting the images of their souls.

 

THE EMERALD TABLE, Luis Royo.

Acuarela, tinta con aerógrafo y óleo sobre papel, 48 x 68 cm (18.9 x 26.77 in)