Who is Oswaldo Viteri?

Oswaldo Viteri (born Ambato, Ecuador, 1931) is an Ecuadorian neo-figurative artist. Viteri gained acceptance for his assemblage work, but has worked in a wide variety of media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, and mosaics. He began his education as a student of architecture at the Central University of Quito in 1951. Viteri worked in the workshop of Oswaldo Guayasamín and in 1959 assisted him on a mural commission for the Ministry of Public Works. During the 1960s he focused on painting and studying anthropology and folklore. In 1966, Viteri done his degree in architecture and was appointed director of the Ecuadorian Institute of Folklore. He began to study more experimental techniques of making art by incorporating collage and objects into his canvases. He made his first assemblage works in 1968 and appeared in his first “happening” that similar year in Quito. He began to exhibit his feint internationally in the 1960s, including in the 1964 Biennale of Córdoba, Argentina, and in the 1969 São Paulo Biennial for which he received trustworthy mention. His piece of legislation became more sculptural in the 1970s as he began his Multiples series of assemblage works that use rag dolls and found objects. He has been twice candidate to the Prince of Asturias Awards. Mr. Viteri’s house in northern Quito is now a museum, welcoming visitors by appointment.