Miguel Illescas C. Art Gallery — Attraction in Cuenca

This was the best art gallery we visited in Cuenca, no doubt. Most of the work—a truly incredible amount of work—is that of Miguel Illescas. He works a lot with metals and chemicals to produce a wide variety of pieces which I cannot even begin to describe. He crafts sirens, elaborate boats full of coral musicians, hummingbirds, lizards, and tons of remarkable abstract pieces, too. My dear companion and I briefly got to meet the artist and almost had coffee with him in the gallery. We were just sitting down to coffee when another couple came in looking to buy something, so of course they took precedence. But Señor Illescas is the kind of kind guy who welcomes anybody into his gallery—he didn't seem snobby in the slightest! Ojalá he doesn't mind that we took a few pictures... Photos of art never do it any justice, we know that; we just wanted to share these unique beauties with some people who can't get all the way to Cuenca. But if you can, go and visit this gallery yourself! The gallery features a few other artists in a smaller section of the gallery, where there are some great wood sculptures and paintings. Overall it is an enormous gallery—clean, classy, comfortable, and chock full of spectacular artwork. Take your time in...

Amazing Ecuadorian art. After seeing mr. Illescas' work in a shop in Galápagos we fell in love with the positive vibes of his work. We couldn't choose between the Iguana, Humpback whale, blue-footed booby and the pinguin. In the end we acquired the Iguana, the characteristic animal of the...

Absolutely beautiful artwork with the owner/ artist on location! Miguel is a wonderful, creative man and a pleasure to talk with. I spent a couple hours looking around and left with some fine silver jewelry. Check out their Facebook page for hours open and more...