Bernardo Ríos is a Colombian artist. His artwork takes in ordinary of themes — often just simple everyday themes distilled from Colombian life — capturing moments of life in rural Colombia. His artistic style is based on what he calls "foquism" which may be considered as an extension in terms of style of art presented by the cubism of

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

or the works created by

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

, or

Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Charles Feininger (July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City, traveling to Germa ...

or even the

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

art movement. However, Ríos maintains that his work is free from these influences and is simply based on the distortions that can be created by light through its

reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to: Science and technology * Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon ** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface *** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water ** Signal reflection, in s ...

refraction In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomeno ...

and it is this essence that most defines his work and artistic style. In addition, he includes small "symbols" in his canvases which represent sounds. Ríos uses glaze and scumble to create the geometric effects found within the images of his works. Occasionally he also uses a

palette knife A palette knife is a blunt tool used for mixing or applying paint, with a flexible steel blade. It is primarily used for applying paint to the canvas, mixing paint colors, adding texture to the painted surface, paste, etc., or for marbling, decora ...

to provide certain effects within his paintings. In recent years his works have been exhibited in the UK and Italy as well as Mexico and the USA.

Online References

ExpoEscocia 2011
Bogota, Colombia & Irvine, UK

Bristol, UK
Newspaper Colombia
Exhibition Information (Spanish)
Pereira News
Information (Spanish)
Colombian Gallery
Info in Spanish
Saatchi Art Gallery
Online Gallery
DIFOCUR:
Exhibition in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico
Colombian Art at Wordpress:
The Art of Bernardo Ríos 1959 births Living people Colombian painters Colombian male painters {{Colombia-painter-stub