Among the foremost Colombian artists, Omar Rayo was celebrated for his paintings, sculptures, caricatures, and prints. Working primarily in an abstract mode and using a palette of white, black, red, and yellow, he was among the pioneers of op art. Rayo began working in this mode upon moving to New York in 1960, after a period of extensive travel throughout South America, during which he absorbed influences from pre-Columbian and folk art. Dominated by geometric forms, including striped bands, diamonds, and circles, his decidedly two-dimensional paintings bear the illusion of having multiple dimensions. In 1981, Rayo founded a museum in his native Colombia, the Museum of Rayo de Dibujo y Grabado Latinoamericano, as a venue to showcase not only his own extensive body of work but also highlight and champion the work of his fellow Latin American artists.
