Biography

Javier Quinapanta was born in 1979 in Ambato, Ecuador. He completed his first schooling in a rural school in the Andes. His love for art was ignited at a young age when, at nine years old, he won an important drawing competition. Due to financial necessities within his family, he left school in order to work as a mechanic’s apprentice at age 13. Thereafter he studied general mechanics for 4 years, learning how to design and construct machinery. This background in mechanics, and the precision it required, is highly visible in his art, which fuses the organic structure of the human anatomy and the natural world directly with the mechanical, the geometrical and the architectural. The result is the expression of a fantasy world rendered with distinct precision, in which elements of reality meld with dreams. Following the completion of his training in general mechanics, Quinapanta decided to travel South America, in order to widen his perspectives and grow. During this period he made unique handcrafted jewelry, small sculptures and paintings, which he sold to finance his travels. At the age of 23, he made the decision to dedicate all of his energy and self to art, creation and investigation, having always believed that art was his calling. He spent a year working on his first ‘real’ artwork, etched in wood, and thereafter participated in a number of collective exhibitions. During this time he was studying philosophy at New Acropolis, and continued to do so for three years.  At the age of 25 he realised his first solo exhibition of sculptures in bone. The following year he participated in an international sculpture competition in which he was among the four finalists. At age 27 he resided for a year in the home and workshop of the acclaimed Ecuadorian artist Eduardo Moscoso, learning and exchanging techniques in sculpture. This training in sculptural techniques greatly impacted his approach to painting, which became more sculptural, regularly hybridizing three dimensional structures with two dimensional illusions.  Following this period of apprenticeship, he was selected in various art competitions, and also began to teach art to underprivileged children in a school in the Andes Mountains called Escuela Katitawa, as a means to promote creative development and give back to the community.  At 31 he travelled to South Africa and, inspired and profoundly influenced by this new environment, began to work and prepare an exhibition for a South African audience. In 2012 this exhibition was launched at Art 160 in Johannesburg. Quinapanta continues to live and work in the Eastern Cape. In 2013 he participated in the National Arts Festival  "Instict" Exhibition mixing techniques, in  Grahamstown , 2014 Travels thrugh some countries in A frica,2015 It is part of the Train Spirit, team "Africa Burn" Large Scale Sculpture, 2016 travels to Brazil, Argentina,Paraguay 2017 Returns to Ecuador, Begins Taxidermy studies with the teacher Pablo Hidalgo ,Museologist Taxidermist "UTA", Wins a second place in the Salon de Arte Sol de Noviembre,In 2018 Currently works in sculpture and paiting projects with taxidermy technique in his studio in Ambato Ecuador