• 1923-2004
• Colombia

Born in Pamplona, in the Northeast part of Colombia, in 1923. He originally planned to be an architect and took up studies to that end at the National University in 1940. After a few semesters, however, he abandoned architecture in favor of fine arts.

Ramírez Villamizar began his career as a painter, along abstract lines, as exemplified here by his 1954 oil on canvas, Yellow-Red-Black. Gradually his work moved from virtual space to three-dimensional space. The coherence and consistency of his development have given his work remarkable substantiality.

In 1950, Ramírez Villamizar traveled to France, staying until 1952. Thereafter came frequent trips to New York, Paris, Madrid and Rome, some for purposes of exhibiting his work. In 1957, he agreed to give classes at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá. That year he completed his first reliefs, mostly in white; they were reminiscent of the work of Anthony Caro and architectonic in spatial concept. The architectonic note is characteristic of his work in general.