is a Colombian figurative painter whose work uses imagined worlds to examine violence, faith, displacement, and the instability of identity. Born in Bogotá in 1986, he received his bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. In 2022, he moved to New York City to pursue an MFA at the New York Academy of Art, graduating in 2024.
Over the past decade, Tellez has exhibited internationally and worked with galleries in the United States, Europe, and Colombia. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions as well as a solo exhibition at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, Denmark. His paintings are held in private and public collections, including the Museo de Arte del Tolima in Colombia.
Working primarily through figurative painting and drawing, Tellez examines experiences that place individuals in conflict with their bodies, beliefs, environments, and sense of belonging. His paintings address violence, psychological distress, the search for spirituality in a utilitarian world, migration, identity, and displacement.
Art history, comic books, and fantastic illustration provide Tellez with a visual language for approaching these subjects. Through invented spaces, altered bodies, and disruptions of space and time, he transforms recognizable human experiences into imagined realities where psychological, social, and political tensions can be seen from unfamiliar perspectives.
