The Basque painter and sculptor Agustín Ibarrola, creator of the Oma Forest, died this past morning. Born in the Biscayan town of Basauri, he was a important anti-Franco and labor movement activist.
Ibarrola, one of the most important Basque artists in Euskadi, has as emblematic work ‘The Forest of Oma’, which suffered numerous attacks from the nationalist left environment in the years of ETA’s “socialization of the conflict.” Other works of his, located in public spaces, were also attacked.
‘El Bosque de Oma’ has just been relocated and reopened in Kortezubi by his son Jose Ibarrola as ‘New Bosque de Oma’. After several years retired from the public scene, he died in the Galdakao hospital (Bizkaia).
Ibarrola, born in Basauri in 1930, stood out within the Basque avant-garde of the 1950s, when he founded the group Equipo 57, and had a strong political commitment that led him to be imprisoned by the Franco regime for two periods and then to suffer vandalism attacks against his works for his activism against ETA.
In politics, He was a member of the PCE during the Franco regime and then He was one of the founders of the Ermua and Basta Ya Forum; He supported Rosa Díez when she founded UPyD.
Source: Lasexta
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