Agustín Ibarrola (born 1930) is a Spanish

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. He was born in Basauri, Biscay, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. In 1948, the Delegation of Biscay and the city council of Bilbao granted him a scholarship to study in Madrid, where he lived until 1955. He has had various exhibitions in Spain and in 1955 was transferred to Paris. In 1957, he was a member of the group Equipment 57 with Duarte, Serrano, and others. This was in the time of constructivism. Due to his

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

militancy, he was imprisoned for several years in the prison of Burgos. In 1963, when an exhibition of his work in London was mounted, a critic compared his work with Goya's ''

The Disasters of War ''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...

''. In the 1980s he began sculpting; this inspired him to create the

Oma Forest Oma forest (“Bosque de Oma” in Spanish) is a work of art created by Agustin Ibarrola, a Basque sculptor and painter. It was painted between 1982 and 1985. The work is located in northern Spain, in a forest near Kortezubi (Bizkaia, Basque Co ...

near

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

, which is perhaps his best known work. The piece is currently being relocated to the nearby Basobarri Forest due to a fungal infection destroying the original painted trees. His work combines the Basque spirit with the social commitment of the humblest workers, people who tend towards

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. One of his last and most spectacular works was ''Cubes of Memory'', in the port of

Llanes Llanes (the ''Concejo de Llanes'', ''Conceyu de Llanes'' in Asturian language) is a municipality of the province of Asturias, in northern Spain. Stretching for about 30 km along the coast at the extreme east of the province, Llanes is bound ...

. In recent year he has been tied to the founder of the platform

¡Basta Ya! ''¡Basta Ya!'' ( en, Enough is Enough!) was a Spanish grassroots organization uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism and violence, notably ETA, and against the proposal for a new Statute of Autonomy of the Basque C ...

, a civic group fighting against terrorism in the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

. Due to his bitter opposition to

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

, a group proscribed as terrorist by the Spanish state, Ibarrola has been threatened by ETA. He has been awarded the Medal of the Order of the Constitutional Merit. He is known for his Land Art. One of his most famous works is the Ibarrola's forest, where he painted many trees with a lot of colours creating a beautiful combination of nature and colours.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarrola, Agustin 1930 births Living people People from Basauri Basque painters 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 21st-century Spanish painters Recipients of the Order of Constitutional Merit 21st-century Spanish male artists