Cartoonist, illustrator
Omar Alberto Figueroa Turkios – сolombian cartoonist who, after starting in his country in some of the main newspapers and magazines such as El Nuevo Siglo, Acento, El tiempo or Wall Stres, would end up establishing his residence in Spain. He has since published his drawings in El Mundo, Diario 16, La Razón, Quevedos, Media Punta and Madrid Economico.
Omar Figueroa Turcios published his first caricature in the newspaper El Heraldo de Barranquilla (1985), but began his professional career in El Diario del Caribe, where he worked between 1985 and 1989. After meeting the most important Colombian and some Latin American caricatographers gathered in the World Festival of Graphic Humor Calarcá 89, decides to settle in Bogotá in 1990. In the capital of the republic, he works under different pseudonyms for the two most important newspapers of the time. His caricatographs in El Tiempo (1990-1998) will appear signed as Turcios and in El Espectador (1993-1998) as Ofit. He also collaborates with the newspaper El Nuevo Siglo (1991) and with the magazinesCambio 16 (1996-1998), Accent (1997), Cromos (1997-1998), Wallstress (1998).
Turcios incorporates the contributions of Calarcá and Linares into his development as a caricatographic physiognomist, and in a rapid process of technical enrichment, he develops a very personal style, with an aggressive use of color and plastic handling of line, which he converts into an effective mannerism in where a physical characteristic, exaggerated in the extreme, offers the reader the best of the characterizations of the character addressed. In 1998 he travels to Alcalá de Henares. He is distinguished there with the honorary title of Professor of Humor, by the University of Alcalá. He also cultivates the genres of humorous illustration and graphic humour. In this last genre he garners important national and international awards and distinctions: [Italy, (Eighth Cartoon Biennial, 1990; Mari Award, 1995; Sports Humor, 1995; nineteenth international biennial of humor in art, 1997); Turkey (World Kiris Award, 1996); Cuba (Tenth International Biennial of Graphic Humor, 1997); Brazil (International Biennial of Humor, Sao Paulo, 1998; 25th International Biennial of Humorous Drawing, Piracicaba, 1998; First International Festival of Humorous Drawing, Pernambuco, 1999) and Colombia (CAFAM International Competition, 1990 and 1995; Political Cartoon Competition, magazine Semana, 1998; First World Cartoon Festival, Medellín] It is necessary to underline that Turcios cultivates with great property and talent most of the genres of caricatography, but it is in the caricatographic physiognomy, due to his particular vision of the world and his technical capacity. and creative, where he has left the greatest mark in the history of this art in Latin America.
Reference: tebeosfera.com, 2020
