Joaquín Reyes (Santiago, 1984)

Joaquín Reyes is a Chilean visual artist who graduated from Universidad Finis Terrae and pursued complementary studies in audiovisual arts at the Instituto Universitario Nacional de las Artes (IUNA) in Buenos Aires, along with a mentorship with artist Natalia Babarovic. He has taught at several Chilean universities and worked for five years as an assistant to artist Ismael Frigerio, a formative chapter in his development.

Reyes’ practice is grounded in a rigorous investigation of painting’s languages and techniques, developing an imagery that emerges from the material experience of making. His work is built upon the formulation of internal “dogmas”: self-imposed rules that arise from the body and the material in action rather than from any predetermined conceptual agenda. Intuitive gestures, through repetition and observation, evolve into a method—a conscious structure that still leaves space for experimentation.

His painting relies on two core principles. The first is a physical procedure: he always works from the front of the canvas, with his arm at a right angle, regardless of scale—often large format. From the center outward, the hand repeats gestures in opposing directions, generating an almost choreographic mechanism. This frontal approach extends to the image itself: bodies, objects, and forms appear without perspective or depth, presented directly to the viewer. In dialogue with a Cézanne-inspired understanding of painting, this configuration proposes a visual logic akin to a scanner, where artist and spectator share the same point of view.

Reyes has exhibited in Chile, Argentina, Germany, and France, presenting his work in institutions such as the National Museum of Fine Arts of Chile, the Museum of Visual Arts (MAVI), Centro Cultural Las Condes, Matucana 100, the National Library of Buenos Aires, Savvy Contemporary (Berlin), and the Chapelle de L’Hôtel-Dieu (Dreux).
He lives and works in Santiago, Chile.