This Saturday, May 23, at 5 p.m., the Arte Actual gallery (Lillo 1273, Asunción) opens the exhibition Trayectoria y trascendencia, a tribute to artist Delfín Roque Ruiz Pérez, known as Koki Ruiz (1957-2024). The show is part of the 12th Noche de Galerías, an event organized by the Paraguayan Association of Art Galleries (ASGAPA), which simultaneously brings together twenty art spaces in the capital. Admission is free.
Curated by Carlos Cortázar, the exhibition revisits Ruiz's pictorial output, marked by vigorous brushwork and the use of a palette knife and his own fingers to apply paint, lending an almost sculptural quality to figures and landscapes. Although self-taught, the artist incorporated traditional painting techniques with material freedom, aligning himself with post-impressionism. Chromatic economy and structural solidity are highlighted as elements that allowed Ruiz to go beyond folkloric anecdote. The gallery notes, "Koki often uses chiaroscuro not as a flashy device, but as a tool to lend timelessness to his subjects, frequently linked to rural life and labor."
Beyond his pictorial work, Ruiz is recognized for collective projects of global reach, such as the Tañarandy procession, established in Misiones in 1992, and the mural La recolección de los frutos, made with seeds, which represented Paraguay at the Dubai 2020 World Expo.
The Noche de Galerías, declared of Cultural and Tourist Interest, offers free transportation between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., with buses circulating among participating venues, accompanied by guides and monitors trained at local art institutions.