Roque Reyes

When I was a child, I was fascinated seeing the illustrations in my history books, inevitably trying to copy them instead of doing my homework. I loved to see famous paintings printed in these books, often getting lost in the images, resulting in a seed of inspiration to create paintings as beautifu...

When I was a child, I was fascinated seeing the illustrations in my history books, inevitably trying to copy them instead of doing my homework. I loved to see famous paintings printed in these books, often getting lost in the images, resulting in a seed of inspiration to create paintings as beautiful as those.

My paintings can be divided into two main themes. The first being the realistic representation of my environment, my community and my culture; I am Oaxacan of Zapotec origin, and my culture and traditions are an important part of my life, something reflected in my work. I grew up in both urban and rural contexts in Oaxaca, so I aim to visually represent these experiences, landscapes and communities into my oil paintings. The other theme or genre that I express through my work I can best describe as surreal and dreamlike, sometimes chaotic and sometimes deeply bleak. Using acrylic and the forces that be, the paintings are an exploration of the larger world, my perception of the current state of humanity; the confusion, chaos and beauty.

My style in realism generally employs oil on canvas, applying the paint in layers allowing each layer to dry before putting another color on top. This way of painting is slow and requires a lot of patience, which I enjoy and which also in part inspired me to begin to create and master more immediate paintings. I began to experiment with acrylic paint and thus I discovered Fluid Art. Although this style generally results in abstract images, I began to create figurative works through this complex technique. I have enjoyed the challenge of creating portraits applying Fluid Art techniques.