Hugo Fontela (born 1986 in Grado, Principality of Asturias, Spain) has developed an artistic practice rooted in a deep engagement with nature and a firm belief in the continued relevance of painting within contemporary culture. His early education began at the School of Arts and Crafts in Avilés, where he received rigorous academic training, followed by studies at the School of Arts in Oviedo. Rather than entering a formal Fine Arts program, he chose a more independent path and moved to New York at the age of eighteen. There he continued his studies at The Art Students League and established his first studio, immersing himself in the legacy of postwar American painting and the work of artists such as Philip Guston, Milton Resnick and Cy Twombly.
During his years in the United States, Fontela travelled extensively through Florida, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro and Puerto Rico. The landscapes he encountered during these journeys played a significant role in shaping his early large-scale works, in which he approached the motif of nature through atmosphere, memory and abstraction. These explorations eventually came together in series such as Nowhere Island and The River, which reflect his continued return to the natural environments of his native northern Spain as a source of reflection and renewal.
Fontela has received several important recognitions. In 2005 he was awarded the twentieth BMW Painting Prize in Spain, presented by Her Majesty The Queen of Spain. In 2007 he received the Award for Best Artist at the Estampa Graphic Art Fair, granted by the Madrid Association of Art Critics. Additional invitations followed, including participation in the eighteenth Painting Biennial in Zamora in collaboration with Juan Hidalgo. In 2011 the Abbey of Montserrat Museum in Barcelona organized a major exhibition of his American period, inaugurated by the Princes of Asturias. That same year he created the project Niemeyer by Fontela after spending time with Oscar Niemeyer in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2021 the monograph The Nature of Painting was published as the first comprehensive study of his work. Fontela currently lives and works in Madrid, where he maintains his principal studio.