Abel Ramírez Águilar

Abel Ramírez Águilar (22 May 1943 – 19 July 2021 ) was a Mexican sculptor who won many prizes not only for traditional pieces in wood, stone and metal, but also for ice and snow sculptures in the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe. He was trained as a sculptor in Mexico and the Netherlands and has exhibited his work individually and collectively since the 1960s. He discovered snow and ice sculpting while visiting Quebec in the 1980s, first experiencing snow in his forties. The challenge intrigued him and he began sculpting this medium as an amateur. He began sculpting ice and snow professionally when he was entered in the competition associated with the 1992 Winter Olympic Games without his knowledge. Having practiced beforehand at an ice factory in Mexico City, he won the gold medal for this event, leading to invitations to other competitions for over twenty years. Ramírez lived in Mexico City.

Life

Abel Ramírez Aguilar was born in Mexico City on 22 May 1943. His interest in art began early and he credited his childhood arts teachers with valuing his innate talent and forms of expression.

He originally studied architecture instead of fine arts. However, he took classes in sculpting at Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" in 1958, 1963, 1967 and 1968 and studied ceramics, enamels and glass at the Escuela Nacional de Diseño y Artesanias in Mexico City from 1958 to 1963. He then received a scholarship to study ceramics at the Rhode Island School of Design under Lylie and Dorothy Perkins in 1962. Ramírez was a pioneer in underwater photography in Mexico at a time when good scuba and underwater photographic equipment was not available in the country, in part due to government restrictions on their import. Nonetheless, Ramírez had a number of exhibitions of this photographic work both in Mexico and abroad. In 1975, he won second place at the Grand Prix of Underwater Photography of the World Underwater Federation in Stockholm, Sweden. While in the Netherlands, he was invited to work at the Ingrid Rolema Artistic Foundation at The Hague from 1980 to 1981.

He died on 19 July 2021 at age 78 in his hometown Mexico City.

Career

Ramírez's career consisted of individual and collective exhibitions of his work as well as participation in sculpting competitions both in traditional materials, such as stone, wood and metal; later in his career, he also participated in competitions in snow and ice sculpture.

In 1990, the Museo Universitario del Chopo presented a 25-year retrospective of his work with over 140 sculptures. As there is no organization in Mexico for ice and snow sculptors, Ramírez developed his skills through invitations to events by organizers.

He did not remember how many sculptures he had produced but he figured the number to be in the hundreds. These included a number of monumental works in various cities in Mexico, such as Veracruz, Tejupilco, Ecatepec and Aguascalientes. He pioneered the use of chiseled bronze plated in silver. Works of this sort were first exhibited at the Monte Pelvoux Gallery in Lomas de Chapultepec. This work was the result of his experience from working fine metals (gold, silver and copper) in more traditional ways.