This friendship was to greatly affect Orellana, to whom the poet dedicated the poem "Recibimiento" in 1966, praising "what lies in the work/ of Orellana/ is as alive/ as a life, as secure as/ an object, as mysterious/ as a stone.

Following this intense period of studies in archaeology, which were to greatly affect his work to this day, Orellana moved to Spain, first in a brief spell in Majorca and then to settle in Madrid, where he became a founding member of the Grupo Hondo in 1959.

On 8 December 1959, the Grupo Hondo proclaims its Neo-figurative theoric principles in a manifesto written by the poet Manuel Conde, of which Orellana is a founding member.

Friendships such as the Duke of Bedford's drew him into the creative circles, where he met James Johnson Sweeney, with whom he established a powerful friendship; Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, whom he met at the showing of the film Good Times Wonderful Times, at the congress of the Pen & Pencil Club; the dealer Martha Jackson; Allen Ginsberg; Leon Golub, Lawrence Alloway.

In 1966 he started a thriving business relationship with the New York dealer Martha Jackson who introduced him to the movement that was to result in the historic exhibition at the MOMA "The New Image of Man".

In the same year Orellana was assaulted in his studio in Chinatown by a band of Chilean criminals and drug addicts, which almost resulted in his losing his life.

Among other works exhibited at the Spanish pavilion is Train in Flames, an enormous triptych that was the focus of an in-depth analysis by critics Luigi Carluccio and Elvira Cassa Salvi.

[4] Acting on the advice of James Johnson Sweeney the famous business baron and patron of the arts Joseph Hirshhorn bought this painting and with the remainder of the works shown at the Biennale.

The book included essays by Jose M. Moreno Galvan, Enrico Crispolti, Charles Spencer, Paulino Posade and Vicente Aguilera Cerni.

In 1985 he left the other studios, and moved to Riva del Garda, Italy, where he was to enjoy an incredibly prolific artistic period, and where he was regularly visited by critics such as Tommaso Trini and dealers as Herstand from New York and Marconi from Milan as well as eminent international politicians.

Christian Stein, at the gates of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1995 Venice Biennale, declared that "Orellana is the most interesting artist that Spain has created since Tàpies and Miró".