A pioneer of modern art, Ana Mercedes Hoyos was a Colombian painter and sculptor who lived from 1942 through 2014. As an artist passionate about Latin American heritage, her work often combines folklore, culture and traditions. She is best known for figurative paintings and sculptures, many of which depict watermelon, fruits and vegetables, people and life in Latin America.
About Ana Mercedes Hoyos
Artist Name: Ana Mercedes Hoyos Alias: Ana Mercedes Hoyos Profession: Figurative and abstract painter, sculptor, b. 1942 – d. 2014 Nationality: Colombian
Biography
Ana Mercedes Hoyos was a Colombian artist (September 1942 – September 2014). As a painter and sculptor, she is considered one of the pioneers of modern art in Colombia. She was inspired by traditional Latin American culture and included authentic lifestyle and folkloric elements in her work.
Hoyos studied at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota and later in the United States. She also traveled through Europe and Italy, studying painting skills that helped garner her over 17 awards, including First Prize in the XXVII Salon Nacional de Artes Visuales competition in 1978.
Her art regularly included Pop-inspired bold colors and linework, animals, landscapes and human figures. She produced abstract works, sculptures and still-life paintings in the 1980s for which she is best known. Those paintings and sculptures have been exhibited around the world, reaching Lima, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.
Ana Mercedes Hoyos passed away in 2014 at the age of 72 while in Bogota.
“To really create a work of art, you have to be very careful,” Hoyos warns. “You have to respect your ‘language’ – your language, your medium, your technique.”
