[1] As an easel painter, Yllanes was extremely militant and portrayed the Bolivian government's mistreatment of Indians in his paintings.

During this time he had a solo exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and Diego Rivera wrote the introduction to the show's catalog.

[1] Nicholas Clemente curated a show of Yllanes' work in New York in 1992, entitled, "Being Discovered: The Spanish Conquest from the Amer-Indian Point of View.

His palette tended towards warm earth tones In 1934, he painted tempera murals on the schoolhouse walls of Warisata, a rural commune on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca.

The murals included scenes of ferryman crossing Lake Titicaca on reed boats and Aymara people farming, working with leather, and having a picnic.