Career
Ríos is a self-taught artist coming from a very rural area of Colombia to present his artwork both nationally and internationally. Ríos" work first came to international attention after his one-man exhibition at the Colombian House of Congress in 2001. His artwork takes in ordinary of themes — often just simple everyday themes distilled from Colombian life — capturing moments of life in rural Colombia.
His artistic style is based on what he calls "foquism" which may be considered as an extension in terms of style of art presented by the cubism of Picasso or the works created by Georges Braque, Franz Marc, or Lyonel Feininger or even the futurist art movement.
However, Ríos maintains that his work is free from these influences and is simply based on the distortions that can be created by light through its reflection or refraction and it is this essence that most defines his work and artistic style. In addition, he includes small "symbols" in his canvases which also represent sounds.
Occasionally he also uses a palette knife to provide certain effects within his paintings.
