Ricardo Romero Cortez Duque

Smoke & Truth / commissioned / 30×40 / acrylic + canvas

Smoke & Truth tells the story of a man who drives down a long, empty highway believing he is escaping his life. Surrounded by vast golden fields and an unbroken blue sky, he feels the isolation of the landscape mirror his own internal distance. He has built his life on “smoke”—careful half-truths and omissions meant to keep the peace.

When he stops along the road and watches cigarette smoke disappear into the sky, he realizes how fleeting and insubstantial his lies have been. The road, straight and unwavering, becomes a symbol of truth—direct, inescapable, and impossible to soften. Out in the open landscape, there is nowhere to hide from himself.

By the end, he understands that distance cannot replace honesty. Instead of continuing forward, he turns around to face the life he tried to leave. The painting becomes a meditation on courage: the moment when illusion burns away and truth, like the road, demands to be followed.