Oscar González, better known as Guache, is an urban artist from the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Guache’s art is heavily influenced by Latin American political muralism of the first half of the 20th century and by art from indigenous communities. Through his work, Guache hopes to explore ideas of social interest such as identity and ancestral culture.
He chose “guache” as an artist’s name because it’s a word that has many meanings. In his country, it is currently derogatory and often used to describe rude people; originally however, it was used to describe a “Muisca,” or, indigenous warriors. As this dual-meaning suggests, part of his mission is to liberate language and take back cultural symbols in Colombia and in the rest of Latin America.
His natural drawing skills and a hunger for comics and graphic novels led him to create his own comic series at an early age. Later when he started studying graphic design, he found people with the same desire to experiment and edit fanzines and various publications. It is then that he became familiar with screen-printing, which was followed by his other two passions: stencil and graffiti. At some point during his career, he began to incorporate indigenous themes into his work, giving it a new look. Nature, animals, and mythic symbolism is a fundamental part of his art and many of his pieces include representations of sacred totems.
His style and choice of subject continues to evolve as he explores new cultural phenomena and integrates what he sees during his travels. A common tendency is to focus on one element that attracts his attention, develop it, and occasionally combine it with others elements to see what novel effects he can produce.
Guache has an Instagram account where you can follow his latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/guache_art