Ruben Artista
Rubén Darío Terán Gámez, born in Barranquilla in 1995, paints his way around the world. Trained in sculpture and drawing at the Escuela Distrital de Arte and in painting under Alex De La Torre, he works in a marine and ecological line that is his own: octopuses and jellyfish given the texture of plastic bags, corals built from copper wire, the sea painted with the thing that is killing it. This is eleven years of his own record of the work, from the Caribbean coast to a national-strike mural in Barranquilla, a state-backed wall on the Plaza de Puerto Colombia, and a season painting the Pink Palace on Corfu.
A chronological documentary of 1,109 moments spanning 2015–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-08-27
Eras
- Colombia, Home. Barranquilla, Puerto Colombia and the Caribbean coast, including the 2021 community mural on carrera 46 and the state-backed Anatomia de un Oceano on the Plaza de Puerto Colombia.
- Drawing, Ink, pencil and sketchbook work. Drawing was half of his first training at the Escuela Distrital de Arte.
- Paintings, Studio work on canvas, board and whatever else is to hand. Acrylic, oil and vinyl, saturated colour, dominant blues. The largest body of work in the archive, and the one he captions most tersely: "obra terminada", "detalle de mi obra".
- Exhibitions, Gallery shows, salons and prizes. Two solo shows and around nineteen group shows are documented between 2015 and 2020, including wins at the Salon Departamental de Arte de Carnaval and the Salon de Artistas Jovenes Uninorte.
- Sea Life, His signature subject and the line his gallery CV calls the most developed and awarded. Octopuses, jellyfish, turtles and corals, often textured to look like the plastic that threatens them.
- Three Dimensional, The anamorphic and trompe-l'oeil pieces, painted with heavy cast shadows so the subject appears to lift off the wall.
- Process, The work being made: sketches, half-finished walls, timelapses and the moment before a piece is finished.
- On the Road, The journey itself. Airports, borders, hostels and the life around the painting.
- Figures, Portraits and the human figure, a line he traces back to his Perfiles and Retrato Hablado shows.
- Americas, Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Panama and the Caribbean islands.
- Animals, Tigers, elephants, felines and birds. He has said he paints animals because he relates to their behaviour, personality and intelligence.
- Asia, Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Gulf.
- Murals, The exterior walls, from Barranquilla to Corfu. Spray, brush and scaffolding, painted on hostels, houses and public squares.
- Collaborations, Work made with other artists or commissioned by a named client.
- Europe, Spain, Italy, Croatia, the Balkans, the Low Countries and Britain.
- Greece, Corfu and the Pink Palace, where he painted through the 2025 season.
…and 1,109 more moments. Full text archive: /loreline-text/ruben-artista.md
