(b. El Salvador, 1954).
Antonio Bonilla was born in El Salvador in 1954. He initially studied architecture, but by the early 1970s had become a self-taught painter. In 1974, together with Dagoberto Reyes and Ricardo Ramírez, he started a group known as "The First Post-Art." Confrontational yet technically talented, Bonilla composes with strong, bright colors, distorting his figures to achieve a satirical criticism of a corrupt society. His influences range from pre-Columbian art to Expressionism and Surrealism, the latter two of which are evident in his bold strokes and disturbing scenes. In his words, "I continue to regard my work, as a metaphor of reality, which evolves along paths of satire, black humor, social criticism in an atmosphere of dreams, nightmares and magic." The images Bonilla presents stem from his experiences in El Salvador, yet their meaning is universal, and refer to the essence of human beings, evil and political oppression everywhere. The Knot fea
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