George Febres (born ''Jorge Xavier Febres Cordero Icaza''; 10 September 1943, in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

–

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 21 May 1996) was an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian-born painter, internationally acclaimed for his wildly imaginative style and humorous "visual puns." He is especially known for the banana motif which often appeared in his paintings, a visual juxtaposition of the fruit, very common in Ecuador, and a phallic reference. His work was an important part of the dynamic upswing in

visual arts in the late 20th century. George was openly homosexual, he was friends with

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

and other avant-garde artists, possibly the most influential Ecuadorian artist in the United States of the 20th century. George Febres is credited with starting the art movement called Visionary Imagism in his adopted hometown of New Orleans. His unrestrained and bold imagination and humor won him admirers all over the world. His life in New Orleans was a myriad of roles, from artist to art collector, to curator and gallery owner. This made him a central figure of the artistic renaissance that unfolded in the city in the 1970s. Febres worked with frescoes, mixed media, mosaic, pencil on paper. Although his work showed a strong influence of

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and Pop art, he expanded this ideas into Visionary Imagism. He is now interred in

Saint Louis Cemetery Saint Louis Cemetery (, ) is the name of three Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of the graves are above-ground vaults constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cemeteries No. 1 and No. 2 are included on the National Regis ...

#1.

References

* Staff of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
George Febres
". In: ''KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana'', edited by David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2010–. Article published August 16, 2012. * Florence, Robert. ''New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead''. Batture Press, New Orleans, Louisiana: 1997. pp 59. * Augusto Rodríguez, Ivo Huahua L.

', Buseta de Papel blog, 12 May 2006 . * George Febres

Spanish translation of introduction to catalogue for the exhibition ''My Cousin the Saint'', Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, 1982 (a collective exhibition organized by Febres with works surrounding his ''cousin''/ancestor Saint (Brother) Miguel Febres Cordero Ecuadorian artists 1943 births 1996 deaths Ecuadorian gay men Ecuadorian LGBTQ artists 20th-century Ecuadorian LGBTQ people {{Ecuador-painter-stub