| Juan García Ripollés (Castellon) was born in Alzira (Valencia, Spain) in 1932. His mother died during childbirth and not long after, he moved to Castellon, known as Castellon La Plana.
His early years were a struggle: horse dung collector, scrap collector and housepainter were just some of his professions before leaving for Paris in 1954. His desire was to be an artist. And it was there that his dreams came true. Just four years later, his creations were hanging on the walls of the prestigious Drouand David Gallery, the same gallery that had earlier exhibited the works of Picasso and Chagall.
Since returning to Spain in the 1970s, the immediate natural environment has become his workshop. Even now in his early 80s, his routine has not changed and he can still be found painting in the vegetable patch of his old manor house in the small country hamlet of Mas de Flors in Castellon.
For the past five decades, his canvasses and prints have been exhibited at the major galleries and museums of Amsterdam, New York, Tokyo and Beijing. His large-format sculptures have been seen in the parks and emblematic streets and squares of Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Lisbon, Venice, Verona, s-Hertogenbosch and Beijing.
I love bread and my idea of Paradise is life itself. I dont mix my words.
You are you. It is my pain, my thirst, my glance, my love, my word. You are you.
For me, art is a reflection of reality, an intense, living emotion.
I change whole words for part words. Who would exchange laughter for tears for me?
Today, I wanted to say something, I dont quite know what. Nothing, I wasnt able to say a solitary thing. |
