Xosé Artiaga

Xosé Artiaga Barreira was born at Mondoñedo, a little town in the North of the province of Lugo, July 10, 1955. He studied at Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. In 1983 he presented the validation thesis for the degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts (Complutense University of Madrid) with the title La cultura castreña (trans. The castro culture), supervised by professor Juan Fernando de Laiglesia. His art passed through a figurative intimacy, technically characterized by the materiality of his painting and color, to an increasingly greater abstraction and schematism from the end of the 1980s. His first individual exhibition took place in April 1985 at the exhibition hall of the Provincial Deputation of Lugo, and his first exhibition in Madrid was at Columela Gallery in 1988. Artiaga has also done mural work for buildings of the Xunta de Galicia in Lugo, Viveiro and Xermade. the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (in Santiago), the Mondoñedo City Hall, the Cultural Rioja (in Logroño), the Colección Comisionado do V Centenario de Galicia (trans. Commissioner of the V Centenary of Galicia), the Colección Junta de Extremadura, the Alcorcón City Hall and the Community of Madrid. directed by the Galician art critic Miguel Fernández-Cid, who has repeatedly analyzed Artiaga's work since meeting him in 1984. In that first number, Fernández-Cid acknowledged the attention and collaboration given to, among others, Xosé Artiaga in the development of this journalistic project. In 1998, four of his works, belonging to the Reencontres series, were chosen to illustrate in said magazine one of the stories in the Palabras para el arte section (trans. Words for art). In 2017 he was one of the three invited artists selected for the VII New Artists Meeting "Cidade da Cultura" to give a master class, together with María Cañas and Berta Álvarez Cáccamo. He is the father of fellow artist and critic José Artiaga Rodero and of professor and art curator Saudade Artiaga Rodero. == Art criticism ==

As the critic Miguel Fernández-Cid says his work reflects a vindication to his place of origin, explaining that «his paintings have a cold appearance, but they evoke a selective look, an attitude that is both intense and reflective», also defining him as an «emotional rationalist». == Work as a teacher ==

Apart from his artistic career, he has worked as an art teacher in different educational centers. In 1984 he applied to join the Corps of High School Professors, being appointed at the beginning of 1986. He worked as a drawing teacher at IES Galileo Galilei (in Alcorcón, from the 1987–88 academic year), at IES Iturralde (in Madrid) In parallel to his artistic concerns and his commitment to the protection of animals, he has developed initiatives in schools that aim to encourage them both artistic creativity and love for animals. == The Artiaga Foundation ==

On July 8, 2015, he created the Artiaga Foundation in Vilagarcía de Arousa, classified as of cultural interest by the Xunta de Galicia in the same year. This foundation aims to spread culture through art, contribute to the cultural, social and scientific development of Galicia, promote the study and conservation of Xosé Artiaga's work, as well as the search for new artists, and protect abandoned animals. The board of trustees is chaired by the artist and completed in the positions of vice president and secretary by his two sons, José and Saudade Artiaga Rodero. To raise funds for this foundation, in 2017 he organized an itinerant collective exhibition entitled "AAN in ART", which brought together works by 42 Galician plastic artists, passing through the Torrente Ballester Foundation (Santiago de Compostela) in March and in July through the Pazo de Sabadelle (Chantada). == Exhibitions ==

• IX Certamen Nacional de Arte Caja de Ahorros de Guadalajara (Guadalajara, October 1981) • José Artiaga. Dibujos, Librería Abril (Madrid, February 1983) • Exhibition hall of the Deputación Provincial de Lugo (Lugo, April 1985) • Sala Pena Trapero (Mondoñedo, April 1985) • V Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas (Alcobendas, Madrid, 1985) • Galería Sargadelos (Santiago de Compostela, March 1986) • XI Premio de Pintura L´Oréal, Centro Conde Duque (Madrid, October 1995) • Mondoñedo: máis preto • XIV Premio de Pintura L´Oréal, Centro Conde Duque (Madrid, October 1998) • Monfadal 1 (Mondoñedo, December 1998) • IV Bienal de Lalín (Lalín, province of Pontevedra, April 1999) • VI Mostra Unión Fenosa (A Coruña, June 1999) • Galería Bacelos. Exposiciones 1999–2000, Galería Bacelos (Vigo, 2000) • Off / Fóra. Movementos imaxinarios entre Galicia e o Cono Sur, XXIX Bienal de Arte de Pontevedra (Pontevedra, July 2006) • Noir (Cervo, Lugo, 2006) • XAB, exhibitions hall of the Centro Cultural e de Servizos á Cidadanía de Cervo (Cervo, Lugo, January 2007) • Fluxo e refluxo na mar da arte (2007) • Art Salamanca/07, through Galería Caracol (Salamanca, 2007) • Artesantander 2009, through Galería Caracol (Santander, 2009) • AAN in Art (Santiago and Chantada, 2017) == Bibliography ==