Born in Medellín, Colombia on September 20, 1949 Felix Angel received his Baccalaureate at Colegio San José, in his hometown, in 1966. The same year he studied painting and drawing at Medellin’s Institute of Fine Arts at night, receiving a half scholarship to continue his studies the following year. Instead he enrolled in the School of Architecture of the National University of Colombia (1967), graduating as an Architect in 1974. Simultaneously with his architecture studies, he pursued his career as an artist, studied ceramics for two years with his Aunt Silvia Ferrer (1968-69), and taught at the Instituto de Artes and the Colegio Mayor de Antioquia, in the areas of architectural draftsmanship, and advertisement.

In 1971, during his fourth year at the School of Architecture he received First Prize at the II Salón de Arte Joven, a competition held at the local art museum, the Museo de Zea (currently Museo de Antioquia). He got his first solo exhibition in Medellín at the Banco Grancolombiano in1972, where he was introduced by the Colombian novelist Manuel Mejía Vallejo. The same year he received another award at the III Salon de Arte Joven, and in 1973 a third award at the same salon. He also exhibited in the Colombian cities of Cali and Popayan. In September of 1974 he showed his work in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and in September visited Washington, D.C., where participated in a group exhibition at the Organization of American States titled “Five Artists from Medellin”, with great success. In November of the same year, he was nominated to the National Award at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos, in Bogotá.

In 1975 Felix Angel was hired as Art Director and Creative of Leo Burnett and Novas, in Medellín, but resigned to concentrate on his first book, a novel titled “Te Quiero Mucho Poquito Nada” (I Love you, I Love You Not), which he illustrated and published underground with his own money. The book made him very well known in Colombia, and in the next year, while maintaining a very active career as a painter and draftsman, he initiated the publication of an underground leaflet dedicated to art criticism entitled “Yo Digo” (I Say)” . He also taught a semester at the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, in Medellín, and continued visiting the United States. In 1976, along with the Museo El Castillo, he published his second book “Nosotros: Un trabajo sobre los artistas antioqueños” (a study on his contemporary artists from Medellin). In April of 1977 he settled in Washington, D.C. His ideas and visual expression continued for long time exerting a good deal of influence on the younger generation of artists in Medellin.

Throughout a career that spans forty years, Félix Ángel has presented more 100 exhibitions in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, and The United States; participated in more than 300 art fairs, collective exhibitions and international competitions in the Western Hemisphere and Europe; executed several public commissions; and receive several distinctions and appointments, including awards at the biennials of Mexico City (1980), and Montevideo (Uruguay, 1981).

This biography was adapted from the artist's website: http://www.felixangel.com/biography