His passion for art and a compelling need to express his feelings in a plastic way led him to enter the world of painting more than two decades ago. His main influences have not only come from the hands of established artists such as Basquiat, CyTwombly, Saura and others of Abstract Expressionism, but also from the doodles sketched by the little ones. His interest in Children's Art is evident in his work, not only from a formal point of view - where the iconographic elements are sketched with strokes that seem to have come from the hand of a child - but also in the choice of themes. Through his works he invites us to enter his particular universe, a universe that, without realizing it,we will try to make our own.

His works can be seen in different galleries, in New York, where he usually works, in China... And now also in Barcelona, ​​as well as in numerous national and international Fairs. 

His bright and cheerful colour palette is a defining feature. At the beginning of his career he used dark colours such as black, grey and brown and little by little he has incorporated red and pink until he reached splashes of fluorescent in these works. However, the colour in his work is not associated with any mood, according to Xavi Carbonell, each work suggests a colour to him. He uses black, brown, red or pink, without any previous connotation.“When I am painting a work of art I am not thinking about colour, nor do I see it in black and white, but it is when it comes to solving the canvas when it really emerges,” he says.

In the works that make up the exhibition that can currently be seen in Barcelona, ​​there are two clear influences: American abstract expressionism and children's art. Painting like a child is achieving abstraction and returning to that childlike innocence that we lose over time. “I don’t just paint what I see, but what I feel,” says Xavi Carbonell about his creative process. “The world would be better if we all acted from feeling and from childlike innocence.”

Entering into his works, we find countless characters, with colorful hair and big eyes. Fantastic beings, the fruit of the imagination or real characters interpreted in a very personal way. A multitude of characters together, one on top of the other, piled up on the same canvas, as if each work were a particular universe. And in each universe we could discover each one of us.

In the exhibition we can see some works on canvas, but most of the works are on paper, hence the name of the exhibition. On paper, the drawings are concentrated and the white space takes on importance, the balance between the two elements is essential.