Aráuz's subjects usually include surreal flower arrangements, the innocence of children, faces, 'trees of life', landscapes and abstracts — all of which are created with a personal dreamlike aesthetic.

Aráuz, Juan Villafuerte and José Carreño had a very close friendship forged at the School of Fine Arts.

In the same year, Aráuz received a government scholarship to travel to the United States with the fellow master painter Gilberto Almeida a member of the VAN group, an artists' collective founded by Enrique Tábara, Aníbal Villacís, and Jaime Villa in order to study galleries and museums throughout New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.

In 1970, arranged through his friend, Jaime Andrade, Aráuz exhibited two paintings at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. and at Gallery Kromex in New York.

Aráuz was a professor at the School of Fine Arts beginning in 1966 and continued to paint in his studio in Guayaquil, Ecuador.