Amilkar Ariza (born 1943 in

Riohacha Riohacha (; Wayuu: ) is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea. It is the capital city of the La Guajira Department. It has a sandy beach waterf ...

, Guajira,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) is a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Art works

Sculptures

Ariza has created a collection of

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

s, which have become his specialty, in which he aims to capture and illustrate the expressions and movements of the human body. The series "The Golfers", inspired by the artist's passion for

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, consists of 10 bronze sculptures that try to capture the attention by transforming them emotionally into the actual experience of the game. A fan of many sports, Ariza has created another limited series of bronzes featuring

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. His works featuring the movements of baseball include a life-size bronze sculpture of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

catcher

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the Texas Rangers (in two separate stints, comprising the majority of his career), Florida ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Another example of Ariza's work is a limited series of 10 bronze sculptures called "Las Marias", depicting a woman's different expressions and sensibilities. Ariza has also created monumental bronze sculptures, the most important of which is a monument to Colombian soccer player Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama showing him in one of his most characteristic movements. The sculpture was placed in front of Valderrama's home town,

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, northern Colombia. In March 2010 Amilkar Ariza revealed his more recent work, the monumental sculpture of "La Pilonera", a woman dancing the traditional "El Pilon" dance from Colombia's northern (Caribbean) coast. The monument portrays

Consuelo Araújo Consuelo Araújo Noguera (1 August 1940 – 30 September 2001), also known as "La Cacica", was a Colombian politician, writer and self-taught journalist. festivalVallenato.com Accessed 2 October 2006. Her nickname was given by a fellow jou ...

Noguera, former head of the Ministry of the Cultural Affairs in Colombia, who was killed by the

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...

guerrilla during a rescue attempt by the Colombian Army. Mrs. Araujo is well known as one of the founders of the Vallenato Festival held annually in

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Caesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. ...

, Colombia.

Murals

During the last few years, Ariza has created "Sculptured Murals", three-dimensional murals.

Paintings

In the past two decades, Ariza has created a collection of oil paintings inspired by the life and struggles of the indigenous Indians from his native Colombia.

Exhibitions

# 1976 - Club Militar - Bogotá (Colombia) # 1978 - Banco Central Hipotecario (Unicentro - Bogotá) (Colombia) # 1978 - Gimaura Hotel- Riohacha (Colombia) # 1979 - Colombo Europeo Club- Bogotá (Colombia) # 1980 - San Diego Gallery- Bogotá (Colombia) # 1982 - Casa de la Cultura -

(Colombia) # 1983 - Amilkar Ariza gallery inauguration- Bogotá (Colombia) # 1984 - Las Delicias Hotel- Riohacha (Colombia) # 1985 - Tequendama Hotel- Bogotá (Colombia) (Gold collection presentation) # 1986 - Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar familiar - Bogotá (Colombia) # 1987 - Mural sculpture "La Fuerza de Mis Raices", 20 square meters Casa Amilkar Ariza - Bogotá (Colombia) # 1988 - Mural sculpture "Clamor de Justicia", 36 square meters Justice Palace - Riohacha (Colombia) # 1989 - Town Center - Bonaventure, Fort Lauderdale - Florida # 1990 - Casa de la Cultura - Barrancas, Guajira (Colombia) Individual exposition - Retrospective # 1990 - Museum house Amilkar Ariza inauguration- Bogotá (Colombia) Permanent exposition # 1992 - Mural sculpture "GENESIS", 10 square meters, Club Campestre la Sabana Cundinamarca (Colombia) # 1993 - Mural sculpture "La Fuerza del Desierto" Amilkar Ariza's central office - Bogotá (Colombia) # 1993 - Amilkar Ariza's central office inauguration, for permanent exhibition of his art. # 1996 - The Golfers Series, Club Campestre La Sabana. # 1998 - The Golfers Series II. Weston Hills Country Club.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

(United States) # 1998 - Meizner Park.

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

(USA) # 1998 - Worth Avenue.

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

. (USA) # 1999 - Doral - Ryder Open. Champions Club Pavilion.

, Florida (USA) # 1999 - Doral Resort & Spa. Permanent Exposition. Miami, Florida.(USA) # 2000 - Bal Harbour Gallery. Miami, Florida (USA) # 2001 - Permanent Exhibition (Artist Museum) # 2002 - Monument Pibe Valderrama. Santa Marta, Colombia. # 2004 - Yahoo Cultural Gallery. San Francisco, California. (USA) # 2010 - Monument "La Pilonera Mayor" - Consuelo Araújo Noguera. Valledupar, Colombia

References

External links

Amilkar Ariza Art Studio - Artist Official Page

Colarte.com - AMILKAR ARIZA pintor, escultor

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariza, Amilkar 1943 births Living people People from La Guajira Department Colombian painters Colombian sculptors