Biography

Luis Caballero Holguín born in Bogotá was a Colombian painter, watercolourist, pastellist and lithographer. Caballero is known for depicting masculine figures, and his works often include both erotic and violent imagery. Caballero was raised in a conservative Catholic household. He studied at the University of Los Andes (Colombia) in 1961-62, where he met and was influenced by etcher artist Juan Antonio Roda and art critic Marta Traba. He continued his academic studies in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, graduating in 1964. It is during this time that he discovered Willem DeKooning, and Francis Bacon. Back in Colombia, in 1968, he won First Prize at the First Ibero-American Biennal of Medellín. Caballero returned to Paris where he found more freedom in 1969 and lived there until 1995, when he returned to Bogota for a special exhibition of his work at the Luis Ángel Arango Library. He died in June of the same year at the age of fifty two. His figurative works are usually large scale mixed media oil, ink, watercolor washes on either canvas or paper, sometimes incorporating fabrics or rope in a limited range of muted sepia colors, often representing male nude figures, in a contemporary style marked by classic training.