Raul Ortiz: More is More

While a fan of modernist design and architecture, Raúl Ortiz’s paintings do not prescribe to the “less is more” philosophy credited to Mies van der Rohe. With a penchant for color and contrast, Ortiz combines a variety of different colors, patterns, and forms from multiple sources such as ethnographic patterns, architectural elements, and botanical forms. His finished paintings reflect a collage-like process of overlapping layering, obliterating, and refinement of images with decidedly contemporary color choices.

Raúl Ortiz lives and works in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. He is originally from Diego Rivera’s hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico. At the age of five, he moved to Chicago’s Little Village with his family. He received a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Illinois.