Jovan Karlo Villalba

Lives and works in Miami, Florida

B. 1977 Quito, Ecuador

Lives and works in Miami, Florida

Jovan Karlo Villalba is an Ecuadorian-American artist whose dreamlike landscapes explore perception, human presence, and the shifting relationship between the natural and manmade world. Through expressionist mark-making and layered, atmospheric compositions, Villalba creates environments that oscillate between the familiar and unfamiliar, where turbulent weather, bodies of water, distant horizons, and recurring vessels suggest states of transition, uncertainty, and passage.
Reflective stainless steel has become central to Villalba’s practice. Through an additive and subtractive process, he exposes areas of the polished surface beneath the paint, allowing light, movement, and the viewer’s reflection to enter the image. Perception activates the work, shifting the landscape from something observed into something momentarily inhabited.
Drawing from the Romantic tradition of the sublime, Villalba considers landscape within a contemporary context shaped by industry, environmental change, migration, and the search for belonging.
Born in Quito, Ecuador and raised in Miami, Villalba received his BFA from The Cooper Union in New York. His work has been presented in more than 40 exhibitions at museums, galleries, and art institutions throughout the United States. His painting A Solstice View From Here was acquired by the Denver Art Museum for its permanent collection and exhibited in Audacious: Contemporary Artists Speak Out. 

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