Since she was a child, painting was in her life. For her, there were no toys, but brushes, clay, cardboard boxes and her own body. At the age of 20 she became the youngest artist to exhibit at the Palacio de Cibeles and realized that she could turn this game into her profession.
Now, Carlota Pérez de Castro has a personal studio in the Salamanca neighborhood. She has been developing her own projects for 7 years and is focused on expanding her work to other parts of the world. This year, Forbes magazine has included her in its “30 under 30” list , highlighting her work as an economic and cultural engine.
“For me it is an honor to receive this recognition, I am very grateful and I admire the rest of the people who are on the list. It has been a push, a way of telling me that I am making good progress,” says Carlota Pérez de Castro.
Capturing the movement
Her creative impulse emerged as a child, surrounded by a family of artists. Her father, Diego Pérez de Castro, is the director of the IADE design school, founded by her grandfather Antonio. And her mother, Teresa Calderón, is also a painter. Over time, she has discovered new references and her painting technique “is a cocktail between Helen Frankenthaler and Psy Twombly, two abstract expressionists”, she explains.
According to Carlota Pérez de Castro herself, the common thread of all her work is the fascination for the human being and for finding what unites us all. Her paintings are closely linked to movement and many of them are constructed through a dance performance.
A good example is La huella del Flamenco, a project where dancers become living brushes and leave their mark on the canvas, reflecting the intensity of this cultural tradition. In this way, the painter achieves her purpose: “what interests me most is to immortalize the emotion experienced, to capture that moment of creation“.
Beyond painting
Throughout her career, Carlota Pérez de Castro has come across different disciplines that dialogue with her painting. Among them are photography, dance, cinema, music, sculpture and literature. Although her innocence allows her to play and break the rules, she is training herself so that each technique accompanies the level of her painting. She has surrounded herself with a good professional team and many artists help her through lectures, workshops or by teaching her directly how they work in their own studios.
Carlota Pérez de Castro considers herself a multidisciplinary artist. She enjoys developing her ideas and, in her own words, “I am excited to know that I have a very long life to be able to do them all“.
For her, Madrid is her home and her great challenge is to reach the rest of the world. In February 2026 she will have a solo exhibition at Zona Maco, the equivalent of the ARCO fair in Mexico, and in May she will exhibit in Cannes, taking advantage of the moment of the film festival, which is “the sweetest moment in the city”.
Finally, he will hold his first exhibition in an institutional space: the Pescadería Vieja room in Jerez, one of the most important in Andalusia.
Putting oneself in the hands of the other: an act of love
Her latest project, “And she is my brush“, is a collaboration with her boyfriend, designer and architect Borja Colom. It includes four large paintings and a ten-minute audiovisual piece, with which they try to turn art into an act of love.
“The title comes from a phrase that Borja said to me many years ago,” Carlota Pérez de Castro tells us. “When he went through a very hard time in his life , he tattooed I’m a painter on one side of his arm , to remind himself that he painted his life, and then he told me he was going to tattoo And she is my brush on the other side.
After six years of relationship, both have materialized this phrase in an art project: in the video, she hangs upside down and he uses her hair as a brush, to draw the lines of the paintings. “Putting yourself in the hands of another painter is an act of love and faith that this person will take care of you and accompany you,” says the artist.
Although her studio in Madrid is a private place, Carlota Perez de Castro organizes private shows where she converses with her public, while showing them her art. To visit this space in the heart of the Salamanca district, just contact her project manager, Lola Alvarez , by e-mail(lolaalvarezarte@gmail.com) or by phone (625 13 48 76).