Ignacio Iturria is a contemporary Uruguayan painter known for his lush depictions of dreams and memories. Reminiscent of the work of both Philip Guston and Salvador Dalí, Iturria’s thick paint and convincing cast shadows create shallow pictorial spaces inhabited by muddy-brown rivers, toy-like figures, and weathered furniture. “People say I paint the human condition,” he has said. “But what I paint is a place's psychological state, and that's why I need to be here.” Born on April 1, 1949 in Montevideo, Uruguay, he studied commercial art and graphic design in college before dedicating himself to painting. Interested in his Spanish heritage, Iturria traced his roots to the Basque region of Spain. In an effort to connect to his family’s past, Iturria spent several years living in small seaside town near Barcelona. Upon returning to Uruguay, the painter embraced the landscape of his birthplace, especially the murky Río de la Plata, a visually dominant feature of Montevideo’s landscape. Over the decades that followed, Iturria has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., and the Neuberger Museum at SUNY Purchase College in New York. He continues to live and work in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Credit: Artnet