Reviewing an exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art, "The New York Times" noted "Jose Maria Sicilia's paintings are... refined and very seductive. His waxen surfaces create delicate plays of light and shadow. Objects appear like auras or afterimages through the translucent veneers." He has displayed at the Musee d’Art Contemporain (Bordeaux, 2001), Musee des Beaux-Arts (Caen, 2000), Venice Biennale (1986), Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Gran Canaria and Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Cairo. He also held multiple exhibitions in Japan, first in 1988, based in galleries in Nagasaki, Kyoto, Tokyo and most recently in Fukushima, in the wake of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in the area.