Magical realism is often associated with highly detailed, smooth-surface painting. Yet its core does not lie in technique or medium, but in how reality is approached.

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At its essence, magical realism operates within a recognizable world, while allowing that world to shift. Something enters that does not fully belong to it, yet does not break the image. It remains, and transforms the way the image is read.

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This raises a question:
Is magical realism confined to highly controlled, detailed painting, or can it move across different forms and materials?

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The essence

Mixed Media: where reality starts to fracture

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In mixed media, materials do not simply add layers, they introduce tension. A photograph may suggest something fixed and observed, while a painted intervention disrupts that certainty. Collage fragments can shift time, scale or logic within the same image.

This makes mixed media particularly suited to magical realism. Not because it combines techniques, but because it allows multiple realities to exist within one surface.

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A familiar scene may remain recognizable, yet be interrupted by elements that do not fully belong to it. The image does not collapse into fantasy, but it no longer holds a single, stable reading.

The magic does not sit on top of reality. It moves through it.

A strong example can be found in the work of Francisco Toledo, whose layered compositions merge cultural symbolism, material richness and dreamlike imagery. His works maintain a connection to the real, while opening toward something less defined.

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Expressive approaches: holding the image together

Magical realism is often associated with highly controlled, detailed painting, yet it can also emerge within more expressive approaches.

Loose brushwork, intensified colour and abstraction can still carry the same underlying structure, as long as a connection to reality remains present. The image may shift, but it does not lose its grounding. While in other practices, the surface opens, brushwork becomes visible, and the image begins to shift from within.

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In expressive magical realism, emotion and perception become more visible. The image no longer focuses on describing reality, but on how reality is experienced.

The challenge lies in balance:
when the image becomes too detached, it moves toward abstraction or surrealism. When it holds onto a recognizable base, the tension remains intact.

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Working between structure and release

Within this practice, magical realism does not emerge by adding something overtly “magical” to an image. It begins with a recognizable base, a body, a space, a gesture, and allows that base to shift from within.

Some works remain closer to observation, while others move toward a more expressive register. Brushstrokes loosen, forms expand, and colour begins to carry emotional weight rather than descriptive function. Yet a point of recognition remains. The figure does not disappear.

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This balance is not fixed. At times, the image resists and returns to structure. At other moments, it opens and becomes less defined. It is within this unstable space that something emerges, not as a clear symbol, but as a felt presence.

Materials, whether oil paint, collage or found elements, are not applied as decoration, but as a way to test the limits of the image. To explore how far it can shift without losing its connection to something real.

This approach can be seen in the work of Leonoor Ruigrok (LACE), where expressive painting, layered materials and symbolic elements intersect. The work moves between structure and openness, maintaining a tension between what is visible and what is sensed.

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Magical Realism across disciplines

Magical realism is not limited to visual art. In literature, it operates through narrative rather than image, yet follows a similar logic.

Writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende integrate extraordinary elements into everyday life without disrupting the internal logic of the story. The magical is not explained, but accepted.

Across disciplines, the principle remains consistent: reality is not abandoned, but expanded.

Francisco Toledo, a renowned Mexican Zapotec artist, was celebrated not only for his extensive body of work but also for his deep cultural and social engagement. His art often drew upon his Indigenous Zapotec heritage, infusing his creations with mythological and natural elements, which are evident in his depictions of animals and otherworldly creatures. Toledo’s style has been described as a mix of fantastic realism and surrealism, deeply influenced by his surroundings and cultural heritage​ (The Museum of Modern Art)​​ (Smithsonian Magazine)​.

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Pushing the boundaries of magical realism

Magical realism is not defined by medium, but by tension. The tension between what is known and what is not fully understood.

Whether through painting, mixed media, or literature, the strength of the work lies in its ability to hold that tension without resolving it.

By moving across materials and approaches, magical realism continues to expand. It adapts, without losing its core.

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Beyond medium

Magical realism is not confined to highly detailed, smooth-surface painting. It can move through different forms, as long as it maintains its central condition: a reality that remains present, yet no longer fully stable.

It is precisely in that instability that the work begins to hold.

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• Artphilosophy
• Exhibition notes
• Literature
• Magic realism Artists

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