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The VI Ever Astudillo Salon: A tribute to the draughtsman who made the city a lan...

The VI Ever Astudillo Salon: A tribute to the draughtsman who made the city a language.

19 February, 2026

With the strength of a stroke that does not fade and the echo of a gaze that still wanders the streets of the capital of Cauca, the “VI Ever Astudillo Salon: Dialogues with Ever Astudillo” was inaugurated, an exhibition that goes beyond the visual to become a space of living memory and contemporary creation. From April 10 to 25, at the Contemporary Gallery of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Cauca and the Memory Center Pantheon of the Heroes in Popayán, artists who are alumni of our Alma Mater and faculty members of the Visual Arts Program come together to pay tribute to one of the great figures of Colombian art.

Ever Astudillo was not only a master of drawing; he was a master of life, of thought, and of cities. Trained at the Departmental School of Plastic Arts of Cali and later at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, he received significant recognition in 1968, including the First Prize at the SENA Student Salon in Cali and an Honorable Mention at the First Young Artists’ Salon of the University of Antioquia. Yet beyond awards, his true legacy lives on in the faces of those who knew him, in the classrooms of Unicauca where he taught, and in the works that continue to keep his name ever present.

For this reason, the curatorial proposal of the Sixth Salon is an invitation to profound dialogue, understood as an honest exchange between artists and teachers; between techniques and memories; between bodies and cities. Each of the creators brought together, ranging from those who had the good fortune of sharing spaces with Ever, to those who were his students or who came to know him through his work, presents a proposal that builds bridges with his thematic creations, his techniques, and his urban sensibility.

As curator Duberney Marín explains, “this salon was not the result of an open call, but rather of a conscious invitation to artists who already had emotional or artistic ties with Ever Astudillo. Thus, rather than replicating his works, the proposal was an exercise in interpretation and resonance, how to speak with Ever from the present? How to build a visual conversation with his legacy? The result is a plural gallery, rich in languages, that keeps the flame of his aesthetic thought alive.”

Although drawing was essential to the work of this master, who turned the technique into an expressive territory, it was not imposed as a requirement in this edition of the salon. Creative freedom was a curatorial principle, allowing works to emerge through video, installation, painting, artificial intelligence, and, of course, drawing. This diversity of media reveals the breadth of Ever’s impact on entire generations and shows how his vision continues to take root in new forms.

The city, a recurring theme in his work, maintains a constant presence. In the spirit of Roland Barthes, who stated that “the city is a language,” the participating artists have captured the anthropology of the urban that so deeply interested the master: bodies in transit, the sensuality of the streets, the love hidden in corners, and marginality that is also dignity. Cali, Popayán, and other affective geographies intertwine in this exhibition as emotional and political maps

Without a doubt, this tribute not only calls upon nostalgia, but also upon the collective construction of memory. In Marín’s words, “the salon seeks to keep Ever’s name alive among new generations of artists, especially those who are entering the University of Cauca for the first time and who, through this space, discover the weight and beauty of his legacy. Because Ever was not only an artist from Popayán; he was, and continues to be, a central figure in national and international art.”

The exhibition, which brings together artists such as Leydi Chávez, Adriana Torres, Carlos Quintero, César Mosquera, Diego Mendoza Imbachí, William Villota, among many others, offers a contemporary perspective to this visual chorus. Their works establish a clear connection between past and present, between master and disciple, between the individual and the collective, an open letter to remembrance and an invitation to continue the conversation with Ever.

It is an experience that reminds us that art is also an act of love, permanence, and resistance. If you are in Popayán these days, the invitation is open: do not miss this unique opportunity to reconnect with a body of work that speaks to us from the most intimate depths of the country and that, like the city itself, never ceases to communicate sensations.