Manuel Ruibal

MANUEL RUIBAL ( Porráns, Barro, Pontevedra, 1942).
"The solstice of the ray fish".
Indian ink and tempera on paper.
Signed in the lower margin.
Certified by the artist on the back.
Measurements: 51 x 65 cm; 78 x 93 cm (frame).

Galician painter. His childhood takes place in the post-war period in Porráns where, anecdotally, it is said that his artistic vocation arose when he discovered reproductions of Corot, Manet, Van Gogh and Cézanne in a pharmacy calendar. He did all kinds of work and at the age of seventeen, with scarce resources, he left for Madrid to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. He combines various jobs, among others in a silkscreen printing shop, with his visits to the Prado, and approaches the informalist artistic circles. His training is self-taught but he acquires a solid humanistic knowledge; he understands a lot of classical music and reads the great writers. In 1966 he travels to Paris, where he will return several times, and deepens his knowledge of the impressionist and fauvist movement. That same year he worked as a decorator in Benidorm, and from there he went to Murcia, where he held his first exhibition in 1967 at the Chys Gallery, which was an unexpected success. In the early seventies, he married and settled in Pontevedra. In 1973 he moved to Rome, where he lived for a year. In 1980 he moved to Mallorca and made his first trip to New York, where he spent long periods of time. He became a member of Atlántica, although he was not a member from the beginning. Later, he lived in Madrid until he returned to Galicia. In 2004 he created the sculptural group Campo de Estrelas in Santiago to commemorate the Holy Year. His work is represented in important collections both nationally and internationally.