Born in Pasaia in 2003, Nextor Otaño—known as Nexgraff—has established himself as one of the most promising rising stars in the international street art scene. Barely out of his teens, he has already transformed a childhood act of rebellion into a rigorous and recognized artistic career: it all began at age thirteen, when his signature appeared on a van. Rather than stifling this impulse, his father Aitor—a painter himself—supported him on this creative path and encouraged him to pursue his training: from a graphic design internship in San Sebastián to his admission to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Bilbao, Nextor patiently developed a mature artistic vision and a rigorous technique, without ever sacrificing the spontaneity of the gesture that first introduced him to art.

What sets Nextor Otaño apart is the depth of meaning behind his masterful technique. His monumental murals address immigration, globalization, and the need to preserve local cultures in the face of a globalizing world. Having moved from portraits inspired by hip-hop artists like Tupac and Eminem and Basque cultural figures such as Mikel Laboa to decidedly personal compositions, he has developed a unique pictorial language that oscillates between realism and Impressionist inspiration. His works, imbued with social values and optimism, both adorn and challenge viewers. From the Basque Country to France and Germany, his murals invite reflection, demonstrating that art can be a powerful means of expression and social change.

Nextor Otaño’s career has taken off at a remarkable pace. Since 2022, three of his murals have been ranked among the world’s top 50 murals by the international platform Street Art Cities—including one in Txintxerpe, which was ranked tenth in the world in 2023. That same year, two new works, created in Ibarra (Spain) and Bayonne (France), were nominated for the list of the world’s top 100 graffiti pieces. On the Spanish scene, he has also established himself among the elite of his generation in the Liga Nacional de Grafiteros: first place in 2020, then consistently in the top 5 in subsequent years, including a title won in a battle after twenty-four hours of uninterrupted painting.

His influence naturally extended beyond the Pyrenees: commissioned by the Gaztetxe in Bayonne to decorate the façade of Points de Vue, he created a mural there that blends symbols of the Basque Country with reflections on the contradictions of the modern world.

In addition to his murals, Nextor Otaño also takes over the gallery space, where his works reveal an equally remarkable technical mastery on a smaller scale. His acrylic paintings on canvas allow him to focus on portraits or scenes frozen in time and motion: a balloon in the air, a crashing wave, bodies captured in the midst of action…

Each canvas is suffused with colors that are at times soft, at times saturated, depending on the desired atmosphere. His scenes, imbued with poetry and nostalgia, are characterized by a muted palette in which light seems to diffuse in small, successive strokes. Nexgraff’s work is characterized by a recurring contrast between realistic rendering and sharp focus on the subject, on one hand, and a freer, even fragmented approach to the rest of the composition, on the other. Light and movement take center stage, lending the work a sense of continuous motion. The figures sometimes dissolve into the paint, while the moving bodies retain an energy and fluidity inherited from his background in street art.

We thus see the tension—so characteristic of his work—between the spontaneity of the gesture and the rigor of the composition, as if the street were still engaging in a dialogue with the studio.