An artist of extraordinary creative sensitivity, Diego Barboza developed throughout his 58 years of life a work that included collage, engraving, lithography, conceptual art and painting.

Barboza began his training as an artist at age 12 in his native Maracaibo when he left formal education to enroll in the then School of Plastic Arts of Zulia, then Julio Arraga School of Plastic Arts, where he was a student in the modeling, collage and Drawing of Angelina Curiel.^1,2

His first collages, in the sixties, show the influence of American Pop Art. In 1967 he exhibited at the Ateneo de Caracas his series 'Los Ratones', a proposal then 'criticized by critics as unprecedented in Venezuela'. In his tribute to the film "Nosferatu" Friedrich Murnau included 32 drawings as well as two-dimensional objects.³

In 1968 he moved to London where he studied at the London College of Printing. From that time is his '30 Girls with Nets', an action in which 30 students of the London College of Printing, dressed in black and covered by white nets, toured London public places, behaving naturally. His 'street expressions', which he later called 'poetic actions', symbolized a breakdown of social restraints through unusual behaviors that sought to provoke public reactions. Upon his return to Venezuela in 1973, Barboza continues with this line of work, being recognized as one of the initiators of Venezuelan conceptual art. It is from this time his 'Caja del Cachicamo'.³

Already in the 80's Diego Barboza turned to painting with a work that falls within the New Venezuelan Figuration. Her belongings and the feminine figure fill her overflowing work of that time, in which he embodied his intimacy and daily life through scenes of furnishings and flowers that included objects from his workshop and home.⁴

His nudes were made from live model, then to follow the path of distortion resulting in their unmistakable females: a figure that represented their personal way of appreciating beauty.

Among the prizes received are the Prize of the 9th Salon d'Empaire, Maracaibo (1964), the First Drawing Prize - Third Pez Dorado Salon, Caracas (1965), the Henrique Otero Vizcarrondo Prize - XXIV Annual Official Venezuelan Art Exhibition Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas (1968), the Emilio Boggio Prize of the XXXI Salon of Art Arturo Michelena, Valencia (1974) and the National Prize of Plastic Arts - CONAC (1997).⁵

Diego Barboza died in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 9, 2003.

References

¹ Diego Barboza
Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano
http://vereda.ula.ve/wiki_artevenezolano/index.php/Barboza,_Diego

² Diego Barboza
Blog: De Arte Contemporáneo y Culturas Visuales
http://deartecontemporaneoyculturasvisuales.blogspot.com/2011/12/diego-barboza.html

³ Diego Barboza.
http://enter-art.com/diego-barboza/

⁴ Pinturas, dibujos al óleo y pasteles de Diego
Barbozaarteenlared.com/venezuela/exposiciones/pinturas,-dibujos-al-oleo-y-pasteles-de-diego-ba.html

⁵ Diego Barboza – Curriculum
http://medicci.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=100