The first individual exhibition by the Colombian artist Armando Ruiz Yepes opens this coming Friday 23rd November at the restaurant and gallery at Los Aljibes in Tahiche.

The artist has been residing in the Canarian Islands for five years and this is his first solo European show, although he has already exhibited some of his paintings in the Bienales de Arte that have been staged during the last few years.

This particular exhibition is entitled ‘Neo Colonizado’ or Neo Colonised and explores the artist’s sense of dislocation as an émigré whilst also referring to the neo-colonialist policies pursued in much of Latin America over the last four decades. Yepes has developed a distinctive style of painting which combines surrealism and elements of fauvism, depicting difficult subject matter such as questions of identity.

The artist acknowledges that he has used the artistic form of self-expression as a form of personal therapy for his own mental health. Which has led him to create images that may at first glance appear unsettling but which can be unpacked to provide both entertainment and a humorous response in the audience, once the artist’s personal biography is understood.

The exhibition runs from Friday 23rd November and runs until 23rd December. The gallery opening hours are between 10.00 and 14.00 and 17.00 and 20.00 from Monday to Friday and entrance is free.