NARRATIVE UNIVERSES

BLACKLIGHT ART GALLERY presents Narrative Universes, a group exhibition bringing together some of the most prominent names in contemporary comics and illustration to explore the power of image as a language capable of building worlds, emotions, and narratives.

Through widely diverse styles, techniques, and sensibilities, the exhibition offers a journey through visual universes that oscillate between fiction and intimacy, the fantastic and the everyday, the symbolic and the autobiographical. Each work functions as a window into its own narrative, where drawing becomes a territory of memory, imagination, and reflection.

The exhibition features the work of Carlos Maiques, Cento Yuste, Deih, Iris Serrano, Jazzy Dope, Laura Pérez Granel, Luis Royo, Paco Roca, Pendragon, RX, Santi Onasu, and Sara Herranz, creating an intergenerational dialogue where graphic novels, editorial illustration, urban art, and visual experimentation coexist.

Narrative Universes champions comics and illustration as fundamental disciplines within contemporary art: media capable not only of telling stories but also of generating atmospheres, identities, and new ways of seeing the world.

From Valencia, BLACKLIGHT ART GALLERY invites viewers to enter this map of shared imaginaries, where every stroke opens the possibility of a new story.

In the work of Paco Roca, we find a deeply human gaze, capable of transforming memory, the passage of time, and everyday experience into visual narratives of great sensitivity. His slow, emotional storytelling dialogues with the fantastic and epic imagination of Luis Royo, whose intensely visual compositions have defined the international fantasy illustration universe for decades.

Alongside these established visions, artists such as Laura Pérez Granel develop languages where the atmospheric and psychological take center stage, constructing silent scenes full of mystery. Likewise, Sara Herranz places emotional intimacy at the core of her practice, exploring human relationships, vulnerability, and desire through a direct and recognizable line.

The exhibition also incorporates voices linked to urban art and new contemporary illustration movements. Deih deploys characters with impossible anatomies and chromatic universes that connect graffiti with fantasy narratives, while Jazzy Dope introduces a vibrant, experimental language where pop culture, design, and contemporary sensibility coexist.

In the work of Cento Yuste and Carlos Maiques, drawing becomes a precise narrative construction tool, where composition and gesture generate scenes full of dynamism and character. Meanwhile, Pendragon and RX push the boundaries between illustration and contemporary art through personal imaginaries that oscillate between the symbolic, the dark, and the dreamlike.

Iris Serrano’s gaze brings a delicate, introspective dimension to the exhibition, where chromatic sensitivity and compositional subtlety create spaces for contemplation. Santi Onasu introduces a graphic energy marked by visual synthesis and the expressive power of line, bringing comic language closer to territories akin to design and experimental illustration.

Beyond their aesthetic differences, all the artists in Narrative Universes share one ability: that of constructing visual narratives capable of activating the viewer’s imagination. The exhibition thus reflects on the role of comics and illustration within contemporary art, reclaiming their conceptual, emotional, and aesthetic power.

In an era marked by the speed of images, these works invite us to pause, observe, and read visually. Each piece contains a possible story; every stroke opens a door to other worlds.

From Valencia, BLACKLIGHT ART GALLERY invites viewers to enter this map of shared imaginaries, where graphic narrative becomes an artistic experience and where every universe finds its own voice.