Visual Artist

Paul Ygartua was born in 1945 in Liverpool, England.
He embarked on his artistic odyssey after graduating from
The Faculty of Arts Industrial Design, Liverpool Art College, in 1965.
His immigration to Vancouver, Canada marked the beginning of
his lifelong dedication to painting.

As a painter and muralist with bases in Canada, France, Spain, and England, Ygartua has left an indelible mark on the global art scene. His work includes figurative and abstract subjects, and is diverse enough to encompass Realism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism,
Post Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Surrealism, and
a genre that he developed, Future Conceptualism.

His monumental murals, including the renowned “Heritage Series,”
which celebrates North American Natives, have garnered international acclaim. The best known ones are “The World United,” commissioned by the United Nations for the World Expo 86 Vancouver, and
“Legends of the Millennium,” a 9000 sq ft painting hailed as one of the largest murals ever painted by a single artist. Completed in 2000,
Legends depicts 31 famous faces on two exterior walls of the Beachcomber Hot Tubs’ building in metro Vancouver.
In 2013 he completed “United in History,” a mural commemorating the rich heritage of Denny Island and The Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella.
Paul has family ties to the Okanagan Valley, and has relished capturing the beauty of this place in some of his more recent works.