José Beteta Rediscovers Light with Nitram Charcoal

“Matter and Soul Series”, Nitram Charcoal on Arches paper

“My work in charcoal is rooted in a search for presence and silence. The portrait is not only an image, but a space where light, matter, and emotion meet.

In my latest works, I work on 100% cotton paper, which allows me to achieve a more sensitive and expressive surface. Within this process, Nitram charcoal becomes an essential tool: its range, precision, and quality allow me to build depth, erase, and rediscover light through subtraction. It is a material that responds with great subtlety, allowing me to move from delicate passages to intense contrasts without losing control.

My recent work explores a more open and contemporary language, where precision coexists with gesture, and where the unfinished becomes part of the final image. I am interested in that balance between control and accident, between realism and abstraction.

Currently, I am preparing an important charcoal exhibition at the Baños Árabes in Jaén, where this body of work will be presented as a continuation and expansion of my artistic language.”

~ José Beteta

Jose Beteta is Andalusian, a native of a small town in Jaén. He began his training in painting and drawing academies. Later he deepened his studies through the Baccalaureate of Art. A few years ago, thanks to his artistic perspective, he won a scholarship for the International Fashion Master, which completed his training in the field of fashion photography with international publications such as Marie Claire, Harpers Baazar, Numéro, among others. In recent times he has combined teaching in his own painting academy and working as a fashion photographer. He is currently working on a large format charcoal series of fashion portraits. Follow him on Instagram @beteta_art & @josebeteta_photography