José David Muñoz, “Nananá”
Murcia, 1987
José David is an artist and member of InOut, the artistic collective of ASSIDO, the Association for People with Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disabilities in Murcia, Spain.
He works in ASSIDO’s Creative Arts Studio, where he has developed his own artistic practice. Throughout his career, he has participated in around twenty solo and group exhibitions.
His paintings focus primarily on portraits of the people who matter most to him—family members, friends and those closest to him—capturing the emotional connections that shape his world.
José David has right-sided hemiparesis, which prevents him from communicating through speech. Despite this, he has a strong understanding of language, and painting has become one of his most important ways of expressing himself and connecting with others.
Art has become a fundamental part of his life and a powerful means of personal expression. He paints with confidence and determination, creating bold colour contrasts and expressive, textured brushstrokes. He is particularly drawn to large-format canvases, which suit the way he holds the brush. While working, he likes to move very close to the canvas, becoming completely immersed in each mark he makes.
His paintings are highly tactile and richly textured. He applies generous amounts of paint, mixes colours directly on the canvas, rarely cleans his brush between colours, and often works wet-on-wet without waiting for previous layers to dry. These intuitive techniques produce vibrant, multicoloured strokes and give his work an energetic, spontaneous character.
His artwork is also part of ASSIDO DESIGN, an inclusive design initiative that transforms original artworks by artists with intellectual disabilities into beautifully crafted homeware and lifestyle products. Through this project, his creativity reaches new audiences, becoming ethical, high-quality design pieces that celebrate inclusion, support people with disabilities and offer meaningful, one-of-a-kind gifts.
The InOut collective brings together 31 artists with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, each developing an individual artistic practice within ASSIDO’s art and creativity programme.
Every day, they dedicate much of their time to creating original artworks using a wide range of techniques. They are professional artists with their own creative identities, regularly exhibiting their work in temporary exhibitions where their pieces are successfully acquired by both private collectors and businesses.
For the artists of InOut, art is far more than a skill or creative activity. It is a language of expression, communication and identity—one that enables them to share their perspectives with the world and to fully claim their place within contemporary art.
