Jose Orantes is a Guatemalan artist who has lived and worked in the Seattle area for over 40 years.

His encounter with the landscapes of the Northwest, the mountains, the lakes, the streets, and the cities, has given him a new point of view in his work. The lines, strokes, and vibrant colors he uses surprise us by revealing a double perspective and in the case of Orantes, seeing the new place with the eyes of a foreigner.

One of his favorite themes is the magical moment when the day meets the night, which he has attempted to capture in several of his paintings.

His art has been defined with a primitivism style and other times with a surrealist tendency.

As an artist, he strives to go beyond the usual and bring to the viewer the unexpected. His work creatively challenges the normal use of perspective. In his paintings, Orantes steals elements from another reality to present to us in our reality.

Playing with perspective and color, Orantes’ paintings speak in metaphor. In some, the glow appears slowly transforming into a new color and the shadows peek out forming dramatic depths. In others, the horizon is not distinguished as if the sky were part of the sea or the sea part of the sky. Each design tells a story and does so in its language and at that point, the dialogue between the artist and the spectator begins.

Orantes’ artist work has been exhibited in various galleries in Washington State and several cities such as Chicago and San Francisco; some of his work has been exhibited in the United States and Latin America. For several years he was part of WASAC (Washington State Art Commission) creating colorful murals with community groups, schools, and correctional institutions.

Additionally, since 1998, he began creating Animal Masks for the Bumbershoot celebration, in Seattle Center and for the World Music & Dance celebration, in Redmond. Since then, they have evolved into “FUN ANIMAL HATS”. Orantes represents the main characteristics of the animal, using a realistic style.