Quimbita: 30 years of artistic life

This year marks three decades of pictorial development for Olmedo Quimbita, an artist from Latacunga.

But for him, the story began in 1987, at age 22, when he traveled to Colombia and since then he has not stopped.

He lived in New York, Paris and Mexico D.F. Of these experiences, he remembers Caracas with affection, a city that, he says, marked his style.

“One of my first stages was dedicated to horses. I had many friends who were riders, and I used to portray them and their horses. These works did not reach the country, but they were very dear to me.”

He laughs when he talks about the different lives he lived throughout the world and the different jobs did. But a serious expression settles on his face as he speaks of his return to the country.

“I was in Paris, and I noticed that Latin American painters who lived there were already European artists, their art did not retain their Latin American roots. When I asked them, they gave me the reason. So I decided to return. Maybe things were simpler there, there was more investment in art, but I did not want to lose my essence.”

On his return, he settled in Olón, a paradisiacal town on the coast that has seen a great tourist boom in recent years, where he opened a hotel that bears his name.