Jorge Velarde

Jorge Velarde (Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1960) is a Contemporary Latin American painter from Ecuador. Velarde has been drawing and painting since he was a child. At the age of 15 Velarde knew that he was meant to be a painter.

Jorge Velarde in 2012

Velarde is a co-founder of Artefactoría, a group of artists that began working together in 1982 after graduating from the School of Fine Arts in Guayaquil. Artefactoría primarily consists of Velarde, Marcos Restrepo, Pedro Dávila, Xavier Patiño, Marco Alvarado, Flavio Álava, Paco Cuesta, as well as, Cuban artists Saidel Brito and Lupe Alvarez. The artists of Artefactoría are inspired by both Modernism and Surrealism, focusing on a divorce from reality and a love for the unconscious and fantasy.

In 1985, Velarde's participation with the group was put on hold after his marriage to Anabela Garcez and his move to Madrid to study cinema. While Velarde is passionate about cinema he quickly realized that it was not for him and so he returned to his love of painting. Velarde is both known for his portraits and his more contemporary art works. His portraits have often portrayed his wife as the subject. Velarde has held numerous exhibitions throughout Latin America and Spain.