Romeo Rios Vadillo was born in the city of Guatemala and is a Canadian Citizen. He is a self-taught painter and also studied engraving studies (dry linoleum) at Atelier Circulaire, Montreal. His first painting was in Neo-Maya style and after he created a style called Identity Schizophrenia, that concept came from de mixture of Neo-Maya style and Surrealism.
Romeo call himself also the Naif Painter.
He developed by himself different techniques and presently is a creator of an original vision of Abstract Art. He traveled and exhibited in several cities and he is presently living in Montreal, Canada.
Romeo Rios Vadillo- Artist Statement
I seek to see beyond our common reality and use art in an intuitive manner to achieve self-realization. I am a self-taught artist from Guatamala and thus inspire by Mayan cosmology. My first works explored Neo-Mayan iconography, which I subsequently fused with Surrealist automatism to create a style called Identity
Schizophrenia.
I create ink drawings on paper with a strong overall rhythm, imparted by heavy, black forms scattered within the linear matrix. The genesis of this design aspect can be seen clearly in my Neo-Mayan drawings, where flat, black shapes define the animistic forms. Atmospheric pastel works breathe air into cosmic scenes with visitations from outer space, adding a romantic flavour. My acrylic paintings are usually hard-edged, well-defined and colourful works, rooted in ambiguity. Throughout my art I strive to activate a vision of surprise and revelation, discerned by imaginations that engage with the story.
In keeping with Mayan mythology, I employ a two-dimensional narrative style that extends across the surface, which I populate with characters of uncertain identity. Abstraction and figuration are intermingled so that the forms suggest action and yet also occupy the space as shapes. I use iconic symbols like black clouds, which are both a formal, rhythmic device and an emotional indication of impending disaster. All elements interact to simulate the complex world we live in. I have a stron affinity with Joan Miró's automatism in this respect.
My themes explore the cosmic system, from multiple interpenetrating worlds, to the inner workings of microorganisms at the bottom of a lake. I use bright yellows pinks and blues in my paintings to draw the viewer into the story. Swirling forms like cosmic roads with'holes' for parallel universes to enter, stretch across th surface. At first glance, it is a flat expanse, but as the viewer engages, the forms an space become paradoxical and illusionary. The inability to find certainty in the forms imparts a wriggling life to the art, making each piece pulsate as if it were a living system populated with cells going about the historical business of existence.
In synthesis, my work has as its aim the imagination together with creativity an experimentation in the following styles: naive, surrealism, abstract and Neo-Maya.
Schizophrenia.
I create ink drawings on paper with a strong overall rhythm, imparted by heavy, black forms scattered within the linear matrix. The genesis of this design aspect can be seen clearly in my Neo-Mayan drawings, where flat, black shapes define the animistic forms. Atmospheric pastel works breathe air into cosmic scenes with visitations from outer space, adding a romantic flavour. My acrylic paintings are usually hard-edged, well-defined and colourful works, rooted in ambiguity. Throughout my art I strive to activate a vision of surprise and revelation, discerned by imaginations that engage with the story.
In keeping with Mayan mythology, I employ a two-dimensional narrative style that extends across the surface, which I populate with characters of uncertain identity. Abstraction and figuration are intermingled so that the forms suggest action and yet also occupy the space as shapes. I use iconic symbols like black clouds, which are both a formal, rhythmic device and an emotional indication of impending disaster. All elements interact to simulate the complex world we live in. I have a stron affinity with Joan Miró's automatism in this respect.
My themes explore the cosmic system, from multiple interpenetrating worlds, to the inner workings of microorganisms at the bottom of a lake. I use bright yellows pinks and blues in my paintings to draw the viewer into the story. Swirling forms like cosmic roads with'holes' for parallel universes to enter, stretch across th surface. At first glance, it is a flat expanse, but as the viewer engages, the forms an space become paradoxical and illusionary. The inability to find certainty in the forms imparts a wriggling life to the art, making each piece pulsate as if it were a living system populated with cells going about the historical business of existence.
In synthesis, my work has as its aim the imagination together with creativity an experimentation in the following styles: naive, surrealism, abstract and Neo-Maya.
Romeo Rios Vadillo
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