Sortilegio ( Sorcery) Painting

A life of Art, International Travel and Spirituality. I was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1960. At the age of nine my mother, who had become a widow when I was 2 years old, was posted as a Diplomat and sent to Vienna, Austria where my family (my mother and her four children) lived for two years. This started a life of international travel, which has continued to the present day. After Austria we moved to Quito, Ecuador where we remained for three years. Then we went to Bilbao, Spain where we lived for four years, and where I finished my high school education. In 1979 we returned to Colombia where I was expected to go to university to study medicine. When I was due to start medical studies, the National University went on strike for a few months. This allowed me, who had an interest in drawing and painting from an early age, to take a drawing course at the studio of, Colombian artist, David Manzur. Two years later in 1981, after few months of medical studies, and three semesters of Architecture at the University of Los Andes, I finally made the decision to become a painter. I began working and studying on my own. In 1982 I moved to London with the intention of studying art. The high cost of College for a foreign student, and the lack of funds forced me to continue to teach myself to draw and paint. In 1986 I had my first one man show in London, and in 1987 my first solo show in Colombia, at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota. I was the youngest artist to have had a one man show there. I remained in London until 1990. During this period I continued to exhibit in London, Bogota, and Paris. At the beginning of 1990, tired with the city life and my own urban subject matter, I slashed with red paint all of the paintings in the studio and left London for South America in search of wild nature and open spaces. Later that year, a one man show of my “red slashed” paintings was held at Long & Ryle Art International in London with the artist in absentia. After ten months of traveling through remote areas of Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Colombia, I settled in the countryside in Colombia and began painting landscapes. As part of my quest I was invited to the Amazon basin, where through Ayahuasca initiations with native Shamans I discovered Yoga. I returned to the studio in the countryside to paint, and begin the study and practice of Yoga.