Gonzalo Ribero

Born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 1942, Gonzalo Ribero grew up nurtured in a home where music and painting were appreciated and practiced. Since an early age he was interested in archaeology, a subject that has been a major source of inspiration for his paintings. He graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of São Paulo in 1965. Since then, He has exhibited widely from Johannesburg to Paris, and throughout Latin America. Of note are his participations in the Biennale exhibitions of São Paulo, Medellin, and Lima; in the exhibition of Contemporary Bolivian Painters at the Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1973, among many collective shows; and more than 30 solo shows. His works are present in more than 17 institutional collections in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, and Germany. He has received multiple awards and recognitions and is one of the last representatives of the golden generation of Bolivian painters of the second half of the 20th century still active. 

Also known as “stonemason of dreams", Gonzalo Ribero has explored through his work the textures of stones and liquens that have withstood the effects of time. His themes go form stones in the landscape, stones inside the earth, to stones worked by the ancestral pre-Columbian peoples that inhabited America. In his explorations to interpret the textures, he uses mixed media approaches on different supports with a diversity of materials like marble dusts, soil pastes, and layering methods borrowed from batik. His work, unique in character, style and theme; integrates elements from Antoni Tapies, Alejandro Obregón, and Fernando de Szyszlo.