Roberto Zalbidea Basterretxea (1956-2019) - Frutero con granadas

Mixed media on wood measuring 48 x 56 x 6 cm. signed in the lower right corner. The side of the work is also painted.

Roberto Zalbidea Basterretxea (1956-2019), Basque painter and muralist, was born in Barakaldo in 1956, although he spent his childhood in Santurtzi, a maritime environment that profoundly influenced his artistic sensibility. The fishing town opened the doors to the sea, a fixation that would accompany him throughout his life. Nuclear threat and the combative atmosphere of the time would mark his early period. He soon began to explore new themes, such as Basque mythology and classical culture, with a special interest in the legend of Atlantis.

In 1977, at only 21, he inaugurated his first exhibition in Barakaldo.

As an artist from the Left Bank, he could not escape the fascination with industrial landscapes and became one of the leading painters of the 'iron painting' movement of the 1980s.

He was part of several artistic collectives, among them the Equipo de Arte Independiente, the Agrupación de Acuarelistas Vascos, the Colectivo Burdiña, and the Asociación Artística Vizcaína, of which he was president from 1997 to 2001.

He participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Bizkaia, Logroño, Burgos, Alicante, Gijón, and Madrid.

In 2003 he won the Diario de León Painting Prize with a work from the series Ciclo férrico, focused on the life cycle of iron from the mine to scrap.

A painter of great technique and meticulous detail, he was an eternal researcher. During his final phase he experimented with paintings to be viewed with 3D glasses. His legacy is extensive and varied; exemplified by the solemn large-scale mural in Balmaseda and the porticoes facing Bilbao's La Ribera market, which we can visit at any time.