Biography
Jaume Ribas was born in 1944 in Granollers, a city near Barcelona. Two events early in his life deeply influenced the essence of his artworks: firstly, the Mediterranean landscape of his childhood, and secondly, his discovery of Gaudí’s work. Ribas studied philosophy and theology, and started painting landscapes and still lifes on his own. In order to achieve a deeper understanding of painting theory and techniques, he studied art and painting at EINA and had his first exhibition in 1980. During this period and until 1988, the human figure, landscapes and still lifes were the pretext for his compositions, with influences from Cézanne, Matisse and from neoclassic works by Torres Garcia and Puvis de Chavannes. Ribas started working on a new series of paintings in the summer of 1988, in Berlin. The results were exhibited a year later at Edition Schoen gallery. Ribas worked in Berlin and Barcelona in the 1990’s and exhibited in various Swiss and German cities. Four galleries exhibit his works regularly in Barcelona, Germany and Switzerland. Jaume Ribas’ new works express real spaces filtered through memory, resulting in simple geometric shapes. His lines resemble calligraphies, with rhythmic patterns and pathways that act as guidelines for the eye. In the mid-90s, lines and construction forms became predominant and paintings were based on a system of juxtaposition and crossing of octagonal shapes. Ribas then directed his creative dialogue towards the European and American painting tradition that could be called constructivist. During the second half of the 1990’s, his works were exhibited in Holland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and at National and International Art Fairs. They can currently be found in numerous public and private collections. Jaume Ribas also works intensively in graphic arts and producing artist’s books for bibliophile editions.
