Kieff Antonio Grediaga

The sculptor Kieff was born in Spain in Madrid on May 28, 1936. At an early age, he began his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker alongside his father, restoring church furniture. During his school career, he turned to the plastic arts and in 1951 he took courses in industrial design and architecture. Grediaga continues his studies in architecture at the school Cantos Irigoyen, where he creates his first two sculptures.
At the age of 22, he opened his own cabinetmaking and decoration workshop in Madrid. In 1959, he moved to Brazil to Sao Paulo where he joined his father. The following year, he began engineering studies in aerodynamics. He then moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he worked as a cabinetmaker. In parallel, he began studying drama, singing and piano. A grant from the Spanish Cultural Institute will allow him to continue his musical studies in Santiago de Compostela.

If the visual arts occupy an important place in his life, the music occupies it as much. In 1963, he learned from German luthiers to make guitars and violins. Three years later, in 1966, he gave several concerts in Spain as a tenor soloist. He then went to Vienna to complete his studies of music and singing. He will meet Canadian soprano Nicole Lorange whom he marries in 1968. The couple moved to Montreal and two children will be born from this union.
In 1977, Zubin Mehta of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned him a diamond and gold necklace as a present to the Queen of Spain on the occasion of the coming to Israel of the National Orchestra of Spain. In 1998, he visited Havana for the first time in Cuba, he will return there often.

Kieff's works are remarkable for their elegance and brilliance. Many of the sculptures made of bronze are, after the casting and polishing, a brilliant gold, an appearance that defies fashion and time. Some works such as Totem with Empty Space or Gipsy Dancer marry the golden patina with a brownish or greenish patina obtained by a nitrate process. Although Kieff masters bronze, the artist has created some sculptures in black granite that are equally impressive.

Nearly one hundred exhibitions around the world: in the United States, Canada, Cuba, England, Germany, Japan, Israel, Taiwan, and of course Spain and Montreal.

Publications: Grediaga, 50 years of work from 1956 to 2006 - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes - La HabanaPlusers: Kieff Antonio Grediaga, Sculptures, Musicart Art Book, Montreal, 1996K.A. Grediaga, Arco 92, Madrid 13-18 February.

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