BIOGRAPHY

Born in Manizales on March 5, 1980.
The artist is influenced since he was a child by
the mountainous geography of the Andes, the
culture of the coffee, and a natural event that
would mark his first memory and the history
of Colombia forever: the eruption of the
snow-capped volcano of Ruiz on November
13th, 1985.

After that tragic year in the region, the family
moved to the capital, Bogotá, where Camilo
received a conservative education. At the age
of 15 he began to paint with oil and meet the
Peruvian artist Armando Villegas, that was
one of the most representative
figures of Colombian and Latin American
plastic arts scene.

The master Villegas guide his first paintings
and advised him to live and study art in Europe,
which he would do after finishing high school
and his military service.

The artist travels to Toulouse, the capital of
Occitania, where he began to study at the
school of fine arts.
His artistic practice were influenced in this
early years by Roman art, the painting of
Cezanne and Bonnard, provincial landscapes
and the imposing geography of the Pyrenees
mountains.

After a semester in the graphic workshop at
the University of Barcelona and after mastering
the techniques of silk-screen printing and
classical engraving, his work will be confronted
with the avant-garde heritage of the 70’s
which was still very much in the minds of his
teachers (by the philosophers of that time
such as Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault) who,
by accepting a pictorial practice, emancipated
the work of the Colombian artist towards
photography, video, installation and
performance.

After a first exhibition in the gallery “Confort
des étranges” in Toulouse, the artist integrate
the prestigious school of fine arts of Paris
where for four years his artistic practice will
be matured with the follow-up of artists of
international reputation like his tutors
Giuseppe Penone, Jean-Luc Vilmouth and
Jean Michel Alberola.

The conceptual development will be marked
by the historian Jean-Francois Chevrier who
will determine the influence of photography
as one of his main artistic means of
expression towards the future of his work.
Since then, Camilo has participated in several
international exhibitions such as Jeune Création
in 2010 and maintains a great collaboration
with other visual artists such as Louis
Nieto with whom he works on the realization
of videos for the worldwide creations of
Operas for the French musical ensemble,
Le Balcon.

After 10 years of living his art in Paris, the
artist decided to live in Leipzig to learn
German and there he will establish his painting
and photography studio.

In 2016 the artist wins a scholarship art
residency in the city of Weimar where the
main theme of the exhibition is a macaw bird
born in Germany and where the artist will live
with the animal.

The grant also allows him to
travel to the Colombian Amazon where he
documents the wild fauna and flora and
establish contact with the indigenous cultures
of the region, especially the Ticunas.

During the artistic residence Camilo invites Carlos Otalora, a representative Colombian Shaman in the tradition of the Cofanes indigenous people of Putumayo, to participate in a series of performances that mixes
the artistic concept with the shamanic ritual while respecting the traditional values of the indigenous cultures.

The presence of the a Macaw bird will mark the spirit of the spectator with this two worlds that in his work do not stop dialoguing.