Félix Arauz is a very important Latin American painter from Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. Arauz is among the art circles of Enrique Tábara

Enrique Tábara

Luis Enrique Tábara is a master Ecuadorian painter and teacher representing a whole Hispanic pictorial and artistic culture....

, Aníbal Villacís

Aníbal Villacís

Aníbal Villacís is a master painter from Ecuador who used raw earthen materials such as clay and natural pigments to paint on walls and doors throughout his city when he could not afford expensive artist materials. As a teenager, Villacís taught himself drawing and composition by studying and...

, Jose Carreño

Jose Carreño

José Carreño is an Ecuadorian painter who studied in Paris. His first important group exhibition was held in 1965 when he attended the Latin American Painting Hall in Braniff, Texas, USA. During this time, his work revolved around the suburban based expressionism. Perhaps this exhibit paved the...

 and Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte was an artist known for his transmutated drawings and paintings...

. In 1957, Arauz began studying under Caesar Andrade Faini

Caesar Andrade Faini

Caesar Andrade Faini was a master Ecuadorian painter and teacher who studied at the School of Fine Arts of Quito under the painter Victor Mideros.He was born in Quito, Ecuador...

 at the School of Fine Arts. During his second year his father died leaving Arauz feeling nostalgic and isolated. Arauz funneled his emotions into his work creating some of the most beautiful, heartfelt and dreamlike imagery to date. Both his use of color and his compositions are strong and designed to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Arauz's subjects usually include surreal flower arrangements, the innocence of children, faces, 'trees of life', landscapes and abstracts - all of which are created with a personal dreamlike aesthetic.

In 1967, Arauz married Nila Villafuerte Estrada, older sister of Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte was an artist known for his transmutated drawings and paintings...

. Arauz, Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte

Juan Villafuerte was an artist known for his transmutated drawings and paintings...

 and Jose Carreño

Jose Carreño

José Carreño is an Ecuadorian painter who studied in Paris. His first important group exhibition was held in 1965 when he attended the Latin American Painting Hall in Braniff, Texas, USA. During this time, his work revolved around the suburban based expressionism. Perhaps this exhibit paved the...

 had a very close friendship forged at the School of Fine Arts. In the same year, Arauz received a government scholarship to travel to the United States with the fellow master painter Gilberto Almeida (a member of VAN, the artist group founded by Enrique Tábara

Enrique Tábara

Luis Enrique Tábara is a master Ecuadorian painter and teacher representing a whole Hispanic pictorial and artistic culture....

) and Jaime Villa in order to study galleries and museums throughout New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 and Miami

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

.

In 1970, arranged through his friend, Jaime Andrade, Arauz exhibited two paintings at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. and at Gallery Kromex in New York. Both exhibits were considered notable. In 1971, Arauz obtained The Great Prize of Hall Julio in Guayaquil.

In 1987, Arauz traveled to Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 to exhibit with his friend Eloísa Melo. From there, Arauz traveled to Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 and exhibitied with Víctor Mideros. Finally, Arauz met up with longtime friend and colleague Jose Carreño

Jose Carreño

José Carreño is an Ecuadorian painter who studied in Paris. His first important group exhibition was held in 1965 when he attended the Latin American Painting Hall in Braniff, Texas, USA. During this time, his work revolved around the suburban based expressionism. Perhaps this exhibit paved the...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Arauz has been a professor at the School of Fine Arts since 1966 and continues to paint in his studio in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Awards and medals

1965 & 1969 Second Prize, National Hall October, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1963 & 1972 First Prize National Hall October, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1968 Great prize, Gold Medal National Hall Julio, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1971 Great Prize Hall Julio, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1975 Second Prize, National Hall Julio, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1981 Gold Medal of Artistic Merit, granted by the illustrious Municipality of Guayaquil.

1996 Gold Brush Cultural Association the Pains.