Armando MartínezSculptor
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Armando Martínez, Galician sculptor: works in stone, marble, calcite and wood

Armando Martínez

Armando Emilio Martínez Vázquez was born in 1955 in A Ermida, Covelo (Pontevedra), at the foot of the Paradanta hills. The son of a master stonemason, he grew up close to stone, yet his first carving was in wood: at 23 he moved to Coimbra, where, encouraged by Portuguese artists, he began to sculpt.

Barcelona, Paris and Italy followed (three years in Reggio Emilia, where his first awards came), then a period in Edinburgh. Back in Galicia he opened a studio in Vigo and devoted himself to stone.

His work always revolves around the human figure: motherhood, the embrace, the nude. Stylised bodies with clean lines and featureless faces, sometimes stacked into almost totemic columns. He works in granite, limestone, black slate, calcite crystal and wood.

He is the Galician sculptor with the most work in public spaces in Portugal, and the author of the monument to Rosalía de Castro in Vigo.

1955Covelo, Pontevedra
78public sculptures
55of them in Portugal
40years of exhibitions

Works in public spaces

Monument to Rosalía de Castro in Vigo: the writer reads a book surrounded by her children, above a fountain
Rosalía de CastroVigo · 1995 · granite, 4.20 mPhoto: HombreDHojalata, CC BY-SA 3.0
Seven-and-a-half-metre stone column dedicated to Inês de Castro, at the entrance to Montemor-o-Velho
Inês de CastroMontemor-o-Velho · 2001–2002 · Molianos stone, 7.5 mPhoto: artist’s archive
Seated female figure carved from a single block of limestone, in Covões
SolidariedadeCovões, Cantanhede · 2001 · limestone, 240 cmPhoto: artist’s archive
Large circle of stone blocks with petroglyphs carved in relief, in a park in Mealhada
Megalithic groupMealhada · city park · blocks carved with petroglyphsPhoto: artist’s archive
Statue of a quarryman leaning on his tool, in Largo do Cabouqueiro
Tribute to the quarrymanAtaija de Cima, Alcobaça · stonePhoto: J. C. Nunes

Public works

  • 1991Monument to Father Vieira, Miranda do Corvo
  • 1991Monument to Ançã stone, Cantanhede
  • 1994Monument to Florbela Espanca, Coimbra
  • 1995Rosalía de Castro, Vigo — granite, 4.20 m
  • 2000Monument to the Leitão, Mealhada
  • 2001«Solidariedade», Covões (Cantanhede)
  • 2002Inês de Castro, Montemor-o-Velho — 7.5 m
  • 2009Peregrina, Massamá (Sintra)
  • 2025Saint James the Apostle, St James’s Church, Dublin — slate

Solo exhibitions

  • 1986Palazzo Villa d'Este, Reggio Emilia
  • 1990Laxeiro Gallery, Vigo
  • 1996Instituto Cervantes, Lisbon
  • 2004Museu da República, Lisbon
  • 2005Casa de Galicia, Madrid · Ourense Municipal Museum
  • 2011Ink Gallery, Edinburgh

Recognition

  • 1986First Prize for Sculpture “Tricolaria”, Reggio Emilia
  • 1986International sculpture awards in Prato (Florence)
  • 2002Guest artist at the Quebec Autumn Salon
  • Founding member of the Galuart group
  • Work held in the Afundación Collection

Let’s talk about your piece.

To ask about the price and availability of a work, or to discuss a bespoke commission, write to the studio. Mention the piece number if you have already chosen one.

info@armandoescultor.com