Abstract Realism · New Series 2026
A eye for detail, a brush for statements.
Original paintings, studio commissions, and a new body of work in progress. Based in Vancouver, Canada. Working in oil, watercolour, acrylic, and pastel.
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Original paintings, studio commissions, and a new body of work in progress. Based in Vancouver, Canada. Working in oil, watercolour, acrylic, and pastel.
Téo Obré started out painting the desert he grew up in, before turning to the figures, interiors, and invented scenes that make up his work today. He trained formally at the Florence Academy of Art, then in workshops with Canadian and American painters, studying the old masters through mentors and books along the way. The early Impressionists left the deepest mark: the loaded brush, the trust in color over line. His work is held in private collections internationally, and is currently on display in Paris.
He works from one belief: craft comes first. Much of today's contemporary art skips the years of looking and drawing, leaning instead on a concept, often a political one, to do the work that skill used to do. Téo would rather earn the right to say something complex by first being able to paint something simple, beautifully.
Hover a piece for details. Each work shown has found its home.
More from this series is on the easel. New work is posted here first, before it goes anywhere else. Worth checking back.
Fresh off the easel, reserved for the upcoming show.
Sold works shown for reference. Get in touch about a similar commission.
This body of work draws from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, not to document it, but to find the quiet suffering there that, in some form, we all carry. Each pose is drawn from movements actually seen on those streets, isolated from context and built up in fractured, architectural blocks of color.
The pieces are built to be walked around, not just looked at: the fragmented forms only resolve as you shift and turn in front of them, so the viewer's body has to contort the way the subject's does. Every figure's eyes are closed, held in the space between life and death.
The color is deliberately bold and bright: a cold beauty that makes the subject easier to approach, without making it easier to dismiss. A portion of proceeds from this series goes to organizations working directly with the Downtown Eastside's most vulnerable.
Get in touch →Whether it's a custom commission, a piece for sale, or a show or feature opportunity, this goes straight to me, not a gallery inbox.
Send a note through the form: size, budget, timeline, and any reference images.
We talk through the idea, palette, and scale. I'll send a quote and estimated timeline.
A deposit locks in your spot. I'll share progress photos as the piece develops.
Final payment on completion. Work ships insured, or is available for local pickup.