Esteban La Rotta

Colombia, b. 2003, Bogota, Colombia
(lives in Chicago)

Esteban La Rotta is an emerging artist from Bogotá, Colombia, whose practice uses painting as a vehicle for political and philosophical reflection. After completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he has continued to deepen an inquiry into the histories, contradictions, and enduring violences that shape Colombian society and ripple through contemporary life.

Drawing from personal memory and the collective narratives of his home country, Esteban approaches painting as both an introspective and critical space—one where material, gesture, and color become tools to question how stories are built, sustained, and felt. His work often carries the imprint of lived experience, informed not only by studio practice but by attentive movement through the world. In Chicago, where he now lives and works, he can often be found walking the city’s streets, contemplating the subtle and urgent phenomena of daily life that continually shape his thinking and making.