Page 9 - YGARTUA: Magnum Opus - volume three
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Paul Ygartua is a Canadian painter, muralist, and School of Art (1963–1965) with a degree in
draughtsman who was born in 1945 in Bebington, Industrial Design (NDD).
a suburb of Liverpool, England. Since 1966 has He turned to painting full time within a few years
lived in Vancouver, Canada. He also has bases of arriving in Canada (1966) and has been a full-
in France and Spain which he visits annually. He time painter and muralist since then, his only
has created some of the most recognizable images occupation and source of income since 1968 has
in Canada and some of the largest murals in the been as a painter of fine art which is highly unusual
world. Except Antarctica his works
have been exhibited on every continent,
in locations from the Vancouver Art
Galleries to the Grand Palais, Paris, France or to in Canada, and he has been doing so successfully
the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Thousands for over 50 years.**
of his paintings are in private, corporate, and In addition to his most frequent work locations in
museum collections.* Vancouver, Paris (France), Bilbao and Barcelona
(Spain), he also worked for extended periods on
His primary mediums are acrylics on canvas and projects in Berlin, Germany (1968) Acapulco and
fresco, although he has also worked in oil, graphite, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (1971, 1999, 2000),
pen and ink, pastel, poster, lithograph, and Crete and Corfu, Greece (1972), Gran Canarias,
mixed mediums. His subjects include landscapes, Canary Islands (1973), Scottsdale, Arizona (1976),
seascapes, cityscapes, figures, portraits, still life, New Orleans, Louisiana (1978), Jerusalem, Israel
nudes, social commentary, cultural anthropology, (1980), Honolulu, Hawaii (1981, 1982), Rio
native Indians, and as an abstractionist, shape, de Janeiro, Brazil (1984), San Juan, Puerto Rico
color, line, and texture. His styles include realism, (1985), Quebec City, Canada (1994), Montreal,
expressionism, fauvism, abstract, expressionism, Canada (2001), and Sydney, Australia (2002).
neo-expressionism, surrealism and abstract
surrealism. His most famous works are his His paintings have been exhibited at the
“Heritage Series” depicting North American Vancouver Art Gallery (Spectrum ’68), with the
Indians and other ethnic and cultural groups from Federation of Canadian Artists (1979, 1981,
around the world. 1987), at Expo 86, Vancouver, Canada (1986),
He studied at the Laird School of Art, Birkenhead the New York Art Expo (1987), the Salon
(1961–1962) and is a graduate of the Liverpool d’Automne at the Grand Palais, Paris, France
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