COLLAGE 20 (2020) Collages by Antonio Martinez Ruiz

Antonio Martínez Ruiz was born in 1955 in Albox, Almería. He dropped out of school at 19 and worked in the family business. He always enjoyed working with wood, but never in the arts. It wasn't until the beginning of this century that his artistic streak was awakened. Self-taught, he began with small carvings and compositions using wood he found on the seashore.

Little by little, his passion grew, and before long, he began carving large works in beech and sapele wood, mainly based on paintings by Oswaldo Guayasamín and Pablo Picasso, drawings of the Nazca lines (Peru), and his own creations. During those years he also created many works using recycled wood collected from the seashore, old pallets, and any other material he considered special.

In some ways, although his work is radically different, he is inspired by the great master Pedro Gilabert, with whom he shares a love of wood, the imagination to create works with almost any type of wood, and the fact that he started seriously after retirement.

He has also created large-format sculptures, although unfortunately, due to his physical limitations, he is no longer able to carry them out. In recent years, he has focused on a series he has called "oxidados," in which he investigates different oxidizing materials and uses very diverse formats.

• Nationality: SPAIN
• Date of birth : 1955
• Artistic domains: Works by artists with a certified artist value,
• Groups: Certified Artists Contemporary Spanish Artists