Bonifacio

Bonifacio (Donostia, 1933) is one of the most relevant Spanish painters of the last half-century. During the 1970s, he cultivated an informalist abstract style. At the end of that decade, he moved to Cuenca, where he came into contact with El Paso artists such as Saura, Millares, and Guerrero and began to use engraving techniques and develop an original style of figuration in which biomorphic forms would stand out, as well as a highly personal use of colour. In 1993, he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Grabado. From that time, he would focus especially on graphic work, becoming an engraver of the first rank. The works of Bonifacio are compositions populated by strange beings and artefacts possessing a rhythm of strange dances or rituals. Drawing is more important than colour, and the forms are highly expressive and dynamic. His work is shown in the best museums and galleries in Spain and abroad.
Recent exhibition: Bonifacio. La cicatriz interior, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 2007.