Joan Ripollés

JOAN GARCÍA RIPOLLÉS (Castellón, 1932).
“Smiling Girl.”
Murano glass. Copy E.A. Standard edition of 8 copies.
Signed.
Measurements: 50 x 33 x 9 cm.
Far less common than his paintings or bronze sculptures, this series represents one of Ripollés’s most exceptional and technically complex facets, combining his characteristic universe of organic forms and vibrant colors with the centuries-old mastery of Murano’s artisans. Ripollés’s interest in glass began in the winter of 1997, when he traveled to the island of Murano (Venice) and worked for the first time alongside master glassmakers. The encounter proved decisive: the transparency, luminosity, and chromatic possibilities of glass offered the artist a new medium in which to develop his imagination, translating the spontaneity and dynamism that characterize his painting and sculpture into three-dimensional form.
Joan García Ripollés, known as Ripollés, discovered his artistic calling in the postwar period while working in industrial painting. After training in drawing in Castellón and traveling to Paris in 1954, he embarked on a distinguished international career. Beginning in 1958, he devoted himself fully to art and exhibited in major galleries in Paris, New York, and other countries. His work, which encompasses painting, sculpture, and printmaking, is part of prestigious collections and museums such as the IVAM, MoMA in New York, and MACBA. In 2000, he received the Valencian Community Arts Award and is considered one of Spain’s most internationally renowned artists.