Surely, when you think of Roldanillo, one of the first references that goes through your mind is the Rayo Museum; next, the chapel La Ermita and the Cerro de Las Tres Cruces, this place is one of the most emblematic of the municipality. What is not so probable is that you know in depth its history and that of its founder, the master Omar Rayo.
With an empirical and self-taught background, Rayo managed to maintain a career full of innovative ideas. His beginnings in drawing were in the genre of caricature, a performance that earned him a good position at the national level thanks to his unique style, in which he represented faces through the simulation of boards, as he decided to call it, Maderismo. This great reception led him to move into a more creative media; for his first exhibition, he had evolved his style to Bejuquismo, a form highly influenced by surrealism, of elongated characters that intertwine themselves, such as the stems of the bejuco.
In the 1950s, Rayo embarks on a journey through Latin America, in which his work is totally permeated by the landscapes, activities and people he observes. During these years, the master's painting reflects, in spite of its abstract character, the culture and daily life of the people. This Via Sur is decisive for the creation of what would be his definitive style; however, it is not until his trip to Mexico that it really begins to establish.
Mexico is also the place where the master creates one of his main contributions: the intaglio. Without economic possibilities to make engraving in the traditional way, Rayo ideas the way to carve paper d'Arches. Initially, a fork in zinc and copper plates; then a hand pressing on cardboard plates. Inspired by everyday elements, he manages to create original series, in which the shapes of hooks, scissors and saws are raised on the paper.
Perhaps for Rayo, the main objective of creating was to allow art to enter reality: to make it part of people's daily lives. In 1981, on a piece of land given to him by the municipality to build his house, the master inaugurated the Rayo Museum of Latin American Drawing and Engraving, the definitive home of art in his native town.
Up to now, the museum permanently exhibits two rooms with the work of Rayo, in addition to its intaglios, which are in a special module called The Intaglio Museum. In the other rooms, exhibitions of national and international artists are renewed quarterly, including Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and the Colombians Fernando Botero, Darío Ortíz and Nadín Ospina. In addition, the museum is also a creative space: it has training workshops in drawing and painting, poetry and creative writing, and dance, and holds the annual Encounter of Colombian Women Poets, led by the poet Águeda Pizarro, director of the museum and wife of the master until the time of his death.
Next time you're in Roldanillo, don't forget to visit the Rayo Museum, master Omar Rayo's tangible dream.
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