Roberto Llimós y Oriol is a painter and sculptor who forms part of the new school of figurative art that sprang up in Spain in the 1960s. He trained at the Amadeu Prats School of Drawing (1953), the Massana School (1957) and finally at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi in Barcelona (1960). His early works were in the new figurative style (1965-1968), and the synthesis of forms, especially human figures, and geometrical, embryonic elements with an expressive use of colour that can be seen in them are characteristic traits of his style. In the early 1970s he went through a period of conceptual experimentation linked to performative experiences and body art when his painting shifted towards the abstract, with a linear, calligraphic style in his compositions. In 1975 he moved to New York, where he lived for seven years. His paintings from that period blend abstract expressionism with the new, figurative forms of the European expressionism of the 1980s. Since then, human figures have taken centre stage in his works. He depicts them based on various aspects of everyday life, but also from a primeval, embryonic viewpoint which he set out via lines and colours in his works from the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2008 he created a series called Globulins, featuring spherical shapes floating in undefined colour-scapes. He assures that he made contact with extraterrestrials during a visit to Fortaleza, Brazil in 2009. This has marked his more recent output, in which he seeks to convey his experience in portraits of alien beings. Along with his paintings, he also produces drawings, sculptures, murals and graphic art works.

He has taken part in events including the São Paulo Biennial (1967 & 1969), Documenta 5 (Kassel, Germany, 1970) and the Pamplona Encounters of 1972. Since his first solo exhibition in 1967, his work has been continually on show at galleries around Spain and at major exhibitions in New York. He has also taken part in numerous joint exhibitions at venues including the Museo del Barrio (New York, 1976), the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona, 1979 & 1983), FRAC - Maison de Gascogne (Auch, France, 1986) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona (1997). His works were recently shown at the Fondazione Pastificio Cerere e Spazio Cerere (Rome, 2016). In 1994 he won the Plastic Arts Award of the Regional Government of Catalonia.

Roberto Díaz