Elaborate, imaginary worlds open up around the youthful characters in José Luis Ceña’s oil paintings. Brushy, splattered, and sometimes fuzzy around the edges, his protagonists don homemade costumes and traipse through forts made from sheets and boxes.

“I believe that addressing the topic of children more deeply in my paintings came about as a result of having my two children,” the artist tells Colossal. “Living with children makes you realize issues you thought were forgotten.”

Ceña focuses on play to illuminate the contrast between the innocence of youth and what he describes as “the decay of the world we are leaving behind.”

In his most recent series, Paper Stories, kids wear masks and traverse a make-believe, cardboard world. Made of quotidian materials, the scenes transform into fantastical realms filled with animals, dinosaurs, and exciting mysteries.

The psychology of costumes and concealment take on a metaphorical role in Ceña’s paintings, reflecting how people conform to the actualities of adulthood and society. “We wear (these masks) every day, trying to project an image of ourselves that, in most cases, doesn’t align with the reality we live,” the artist says. “This is especially evident in our use of social media.”

Vibrant landscapes are often devoid of depth, as if cut from paper and layered to form a stage-like set. These flattened scenes “suggest that these worlds are destined to dissolve, to fold in on themselves,” Ceña says, adding that “solitude is a silent protagonist.”

The work shown here was recently on view with Galerie LeRoyer, and you can explore more of Ceña’s work on Instagram.