Federico Herrero made a splash with his wall paintings of weirdly morphed animals at the 2001 Venice Biennale and, at age 22, became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious art fair's Golden Lion Award. In the wake of that success, the Costa Rican-born painter garnered international representation (showing in Tokyo with the Gallery Koyanagi), and was invited to the Aichi Expo this year, where he painted world maps on the bottom of two artificial ponds.
It is apparent when talking to the personable Herrero that he loves to paint, especially on surfaces other than canvases. While in Japan for the Expo, he also took the opportunity to cover the exteriors of city buses -- one in Kanazawa City and two buses in a town in Yamagata Prefecture -- with his often-fanciful designs.
Herrero's latest project is "Live Surfaces," a solo show now at the Watari-Um Museum in Tokyo's Aoyama district.