José María Cano facts for kids

Quick facts for kids José María Cano
Cano Painting "Blood Test"
Background information
Birth name	José María Cano Andrés
Born	(1959-02-21) 21 February 1959 (age 66) Madrid, Spain
Occupation(s)	Composer, and visual artist.
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Sony BMG (Columbia Records and BMG Ariola/Eurodisc) Santa Teresa Records Muxxic.
Associated acts	Mecano

José María Cano Andrés (born on February 21, 1959) is a talented Spanish artist. He is known as a composer and visual artist. From 1982 to 1998, he was a key member and main songwriter for the famous Spanish pop-rock band Mecano. After 1998, he started focusing mostly on creating visual art.

A Musician's Journey

José María Cano was born in Madrid, Spain. He started performing concerts while he was a university student. There, he met Ana Torroja, who later became the lead singer of their band, Mecano. Their first album, also called Mecano (released in 1981), became a big hit. It included the popular song "Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar". Both José and his brother Nacho wrote songs for all of Mecano's albums.

In 1984, José began playing the piano and changed how he wrote music. He started composing songs for many other famous singers. Some of these include Chayanne, Julio Iglesias, Miguel Bosé, and Sarah Brightman. He wrote many well-known songs in the Spanish-speaking world, such as "Hijo de la Luna", "Mujer contra mujer", and "Cruz de navajas". These songs were sung by artists from Spain and other countries.

After Mecano stopped performing together in 1992, José wrote an opera called Luna (opera). The famous singer Plácido Domingo sang the main role in this opera. In 2002, José also composed the official song for the famous football team Real Madrid, which Plácido Domingo also sang. Later, in 2006, he wrote a special version of the "Our Father" prayer. This was sung by Montserrat Caballé when Pope Benedict XVI visited Valencia.

Becoming an Artist

José María Cano started drawing when he was very young. From age 10, he went to art academies to learn drawing and painting. He wanted to prepare for a career in architecture. During his first year of architecture studies, he learned a special painting method called encaustic. This technique uses heated wax mixed with colors. He began working as a professional artist in 2002. His first art show was in 2004 in Miami.

One of his early exhibitions was called "This Is Just Business". For this show, he used images from letters related to a difficult personal time. He mixed these with drawings made by his son. He painted the strong words from the letters onto backgrounds that looked like deserts or icy places. By combining these with his son's drawings, he wanted to show how these letters could be seen differently. He also painted about the Iraq war around the same time. He saw a connection between his personal challenges and the war, as both involved conflict and innocent people suffering. His paintings with his son's drawings also come from this period. They are simple, black-and-white drawings that make you think.

Around this time, Cano also started a series of artworks where he projected drawings made by his son, Daniel. Daniel has Asperger's syndrome, which means he sees the world in a unique way. Cano carefully copied Daniel's drawings on a large scale. He saw this as a way to learn from his son. Later, he began painting newspaper headlines and articles. He wanted to show that what we call "truth" can change depending on who is telling the story. For example, he has paintings with titles like "Immigration Brings More Crime". This shows how a fact can hide a biased opinion.

Art Inspired by Finance

His first art show about the world of money and business, called "The Wall Street 100", happened in 2006. He took newspaper clippings from the Wall Street Journal. He then carefully recreated the small portraits and text from these clippings on a very large scale. He used colored waxes for this, a technique called encaustic painting. By making these small, mass-produced portraits into large, detailed wax paintings, Cano wanted to show that these business people were like new "gods" of beauty and power. As a newspaper article in The Times said, Cano's paintings look so deep and clear that they are "more like sculptures than paintings".

While painting people from the financial world, he also painted charts and graphs showing how financial markets and company stocks performed. He called these works "Mountains". He believed these were the new "landscapes" that artists should paint. By painting financial figures and statistics instead of traditional subjects, he connected his art to classic painting styles. Even though his art often has deep meanings, he still uses traditional painting methods. For example, his series of bullfight etchings, "La Tauromaquia", has been shown alongside similar works by famous artists like Goya and Picasso.

Art with a Message

José María Cano's art is mostly "conceptual". This means his works focus on ideas and messages. He uses difficult art techniques like encaustic on canvas, watercolor on paper, and aquatint on copper plates. An article in Architectural Digest mentioned that he makes drawing a main part of his work. He uses black lines on a white background, creating "impeccable" and "spectacular" effects.

His art often starts with images from newspapers or photos. He uses these to explore the difference between what is "real" and what is "true". He likes a saying from another painter: "Reality has three dimensions, whilst truth has only two." Cano believes that reality is full of colors, but we often think of truth in black and white. For him, it's a range of grays. He sees the white background of his wax paintings as an empty space. He then decides where to add color or lines. This turns a colorful reality into a simpler, more focused artwork. His encaustic technique is very detailed and takes a lot of time. One art critic said that Cano carefully applies seven layers of wax. This process can take up to a thousand hours for just one artwork!

José María Cano's art has been shown in many important places. In 2016, a large show of his work was held at the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, China. In 2018, he became one of the first modern artists to become very popular in Asia. His painting of Jack Ma, a very rich Chinese businessman, sold for a record price. The auction house Sotheby’s also hoped his portrait of Steve Jobs would sell for a high price.

Art Exhibitions

José María Cano has shown his art in many places around the world. Here are a few examples:

• 2004: 50 Shark Teeth, in Miami, USA.
• 2005: Todos Somos Diferentes, in Monterrey, Mexico.
• 2006: José-María Cano: Paintings. in Shanghai, China.
• 2007: Materialismo-Matérico. in Málaga, Spain.
• 2008: Welcome to Capitalism, in Prague, Czech Republic.
• 2009: "Madonna meets Mao", in Dresden, Germany.
• 2010: La tauromaquia. Goya siglo XIX, Picasso siglo XX, Cano siglo XXI., in Madrid, Spain.
• 2011: Orientale, at the 54th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
• 2012: Divorce Papers and Expensive Postcards, in Dallas, USA.
• 2013: Arrivederci capitalismo!, in Naples, Italy.
• 2014: Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure, in Tokyo, Japan.
• 2015: Luna, in London, UK.
• 2016: Jose-Maria Cano at CAFA Art Museum, in Beijing, China.
• 2018: Game Changers. S2 by Sotheby´s Hong Kong, in Hong Kong.
• 2019: Apostolate, at the San Diego Museum of Art, California, USA.
• 2020: Apostolados. José Maria Cano and El Greco. Catedral Primada de Toledo, Spain.
• 2022: The unseeable light. Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
• 2023: Moonshine. A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
• 2023: Differences and similarities between truth and reality. National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, Kazakhstan.

Images for kids

See also

In Spanish: José María Cano para niños