Guatemalan Fine Artist Arturo Monroy

Born 1959 in Guatemala City. Monroy studied art at the National Academy of Art in Guatemala and at the Max Saravia Gual School of Art.  He also studied art with Master Elmar Rojas.  He taught plein air art lessons in Antigua Guatemala in the years 1986-1992 and is co-founder ot the Art Group Itzul.
 
Arturo Monroy is a Guatemalan contemporary and conceptual painter and sculptor. His art works are tangible images of the reflections on his country and its rich culture.  Over a period of forty years his works have come a long way.  As a young artist he is well known for his watercolours, most of them depicting landscapes of Antigua Guatemala and the countryside. As his worked matured, it has become more symbolic and iconic.  His Mayan upbringing and his direct relationship with “mother earth”  brought up a series of larger than life paintings and sculptures of several staple foods in the country, such as the black bean, the white corn and the local chilli peppers have become icons in his work and for which he is readily identifiable.  A most recent “black and white series” express his concerns about the future of the planet, aimed at creating awareness and the desperate need to stop deforestation before it is too late.  Materials for such works have been handmade by the artist himself.
 
He has won several important awards in Guatemala and has shown individually and collectively in Guatemala, Germany, the United States, Italy, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, and many more.