Sculptor and painter. Son of the writer Alfredo Armas Alfonzo, National Prize of Literature 1969, and the esmalltista Aída Arms. He starts his exhibition activity as a sculptor in 1973, at the 16 years. In that first exhibition (Sala Ocre, Caracas), his pieces seemed, according to Juan Calzadilla, more open "to material expressiveness, rather than to the virtuosity of form" (1973). In 1977 he receives the Acquavella Pepino Award in the V National Youth Salon of Caracas. Around this time he studied at Cegra with professors such as Manuel Espinoza and Alirio Palacios. At 1978 he receives a scholarship from the French government and travels to Paris, studies sculpture and engraving at the School of Decorative Arts of Nice (1978-1980), at the School of Fine Arts in Paris and, later, graphic arts in Paris. Superior School of Decorative Arts. At the same time he is doing internships at the School of Fine Arts in Paris with the sculptor Étienne Martin, one of his most influential teachers. In 1981 he returns to Venezuela and studies at the Neumann Institute, until 1983, when he resumes his studies at Cegra, to graduate at 1984. The work of this versatile plastic artist is based on the technical freedom of languages ​​and genres, and the breakdown of styles. Thus, two tendencies can be denoted in the development of his sculptural work: on the one hand, in the seventies, he realizes basically figurative works, through the cast in bronze, where the representations of horses and human beings are predominant.
After his stay in France, he turns towards abstraction, works with works made mainly with metal, iron and aluminum rods that bend and twist, until composing a network of lines that create three-dimensional drawings in space. Federica Palomero wrote of his work at this time: "the informalist nature of work is imposed: the process of breaking down the naked and resistant matter comes to constitute the work itself, marked by the violence of physical effort. as its density [...] In the course of the decade [of the eighties], the bars are acquiring certain order and calm "(1997). In an interview with Carlos Cruz-Diez at 1985, Enrico Armas describes these works as "concentrations": transparent volumes that are also mass. An example of these pieces is the Monument to iron (700 x 180 cm), with which wins the contest for a monumental piece of Fundametal (Valencia, Edo Carabobo, 1983). In 1989 he returns to figuration with the modeling technique in wax or clay, and his subsequent casting in bronze. In 1990 gathers more than 30 horses made between 1989 and 1990 in the exhibition "Horses of bronze" (Gallery One, Caracas). His creations do not have fixed dimensions, although between the figurative and the abstract, there is a greater development of works of small and medium format over large format ones. He participates repeatedly in the Arturo Michelena Hall, where he is awarded three times. In the international arena he has participated in group exhibitions in France, Hungary, Colombia, the United States, India and Spain. As a graphic artist he has made lithographs and serigraphs that he has included in many of his exhibitions. He has also ventured into ephemeral art, such as the installation for the San Carlos Borromeo Castle (Pampatar, Edo. Nueva Esparta, 1984), whose interest lies in the usual materials of the area (sand, wood, boat remains, seashells, etc.), which relate to the viewer in a space different from the everyday.
In 1992 he presents his first individual paintings in the Arte Hoy Gallery in Caracas. According to Juan Carlos Palenzuela, the artist, in painting, as in sculpture, "passes indistinctly from abstract art to figurative art and vice versa" (1992). Armas works with oil and acrylic on canvas, sometimes incorporating collage. Palenzuela adds: "the active space continues to be the theme of Armas" (op.cit.). On the occasion of an exhibition by 1998, "From color to intimacy", Palenzuela describes the evolution of the artist in this genre: "surely, Enrico Armas looks, among other aspects, for a polyphony of color. transparent, as I remember those of 1992, but now they are compact, abrasive, with short lights that are like sparks, textural color, in a few ranges and from there in different registers ... Painting of a saturated space, yellows that they overlap the force of color, fillings that reach the eyes and in the middle of all this, figures-trees, bottles, horses-as persistence of the image, of the imaginative, of the festive in the middle of the fire "(1998 ). Armas has transcended the traditional spaces dedicated to art, museums or galleries, carrying out works of varied dimensions to be exposed to the outdoors in different public places, inside and outside the country. In February 1999 presented the exhibition "With sequences" (Gallery Braulio Salazar), more than 50 works that cover all stages and styles as an artist. In 2001 he represented Venezuela in the Cagnes-sur-Mer Festival (France).

Individual exhibitions

1973 "Sculpture", Ocher Room, Caracas
1976 "Drawings", Ocher Room, Caracas
1978 "Esculturas", Euro-American Art Center, Caracas
1984 "Sculptures, serigraphs", El Parque Art Center, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo
1985 "Sculptures", Graphic Gallery / CB2, Caracas
1986 "Sculptures", Shop, MACC / "Colors in space", The Pink House, Caracas / "Sculptures", Interalúmina, Puerto Ordaz
1987 "Sculptures, graphics and tapestries", Municipal Art Gallery, Puerto La Cruz
1988 "Convergences and singularities", Soto Museum / Francisco Narváez Museum
1989 "Drawings and sculptures", Galería Arte Bocetos, Caracas / El Pasillo Gallery, Chacaíto Station, Caracas Metro
1990 "Sculptures and drawings", Espacio Simonetti, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo / "Caballos de bronce", Galería Uno, Caracas
1992 "Espacio activo, pinturas", Galería Arte Hoy, Caracas
1993 "Traces", The Warm Spaces
1994 "Live", Art Nouveau Gallery, Maracaibo / "That other space", Art Nouveau Gallery, Maracaibo
1997 "On the edge of reality", Sidor Room / "Hidden Games", Solid Gallery, El Hatillo, Edo. Miranda / Gallery San Francisco, Caracas
1998 "Total Eclipse", Legislative Assembly of the Anzoátegui State, Barcelona / "Alegría de vivir", Gallery III Milenium, Puerto Ordaz / "From color to intimacy", Galería Medicci, Caracas / "Transparencies, paintings", Café del Ateneo, Athenaeum of Caracas
1999 "With sequences", Braulio Salazar Gallery / "Imaginary Journey", Medicci Gallery, Caracas / "Act of Faith", Municipal Gallery, Punto Fijo, Edo. Falcón / "Between heaven and earth", Center for Fine Arts, Maracaibo / "Entre mares", House of Culture, La Asunción
2000 "System of Signs, Paintings", Municipal Art Gallery, Puerto La Cruz / "From the Caribbean to the Orinoco, Paintings", Center for the Arts, Ciudad Bolívar / "Largo camino. Pinturas", Medicci Gallery, Caracas
2001 "Name the painting", Centro Cultural Corp Group, Caracas / "Glosa de trazos", Galería Medicci, Caracas
2002 "Tricolor landscape", Medicci Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, United States / "Paisaje tricolor", Galica Gallery, Milan, Italy
2003 Casa La Blanquera Museum, San Carlos / MACMMA / Gallery Perro del Perro Verde, Madrid / La Casa del Pueblo, Beas, Huelva, Spain / Espace Meyer Zafra, Paris / Medicci Gallery, Caracas
Awards

1977 Acquavella Cucumber Award, V National Salon of Young Artists, Caracas / UC Award for Sculpture, XXXV Arturo Michelena Room
1983 Prize Pieza Monumental, Fundametal, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo
1984 Bernardo Rubinstein Award, XLII Arturo Michelena Hall / Honorable mention, in situ sculpture section, II Francisco Narváez Sculpture Biennial, San Carlos Borromeo Castle, Pampatar, Edo. New Sparta
1985 Julio Morales Lara Award, XLIII Arturo Michelena Hall / Grand Format Prize, Botanical Garden, Caracas
1986 Second Sculpture Prize, II National Biennial City of Maracaibo
1989 Prize Julio Morales Lara, XLVII Salon Arturo Michelena
1997 Second prize, IX TAGA Biennial
Public monuments

Concentration for Caracas, Chacao Station, Caracas Metro / Concentration for Valencia, University Park, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo / 85 Sculpture, Botanical Garden, Caracas / Homage to Jackson Pollock, Mariano Picón Salas Open Air Museum, Mérida / Yellow arch sculpture installation, Mavesa, Los Cortijos de Lourdes, Caracas / Labyrinth, Baconao Park, Santiago de Cuba / Llovizna , General Superintendence of Banks, Caracas / Iron Monument, Fundametal, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo / Nido de pasiones, Andrés Pérez Mujica Open Air Museum, Valencia, Edo. Carabobo / A horse for La Asunción, Arismendi Cultural Foundation, La Asunción
Collections

Athenaeum of Valencia, Edo. Carabobo / CAMLB / Center for Fine Arts, Maracaibo / Wifredo Lam Center, Havana / Cisneros Collection, Caracas / Conac / Fundarte / Municipal Art Gallery, Puerto La Cruz / GAN / IVIC / MACMMA / Caracas Metro / Mujabo / Cruz Museum -Diez / Museum of Ciudad Bolívar / Petare Museum / Baconao Park, Santiago de Cuba / Bolivarian Park Mines of Aroa, Edo. Yaracuy / Sidor / TAGA / UC / UNESCO, Caracas
Fonts

Archive of the artist.
Calzadilla, Juan. Sculptures (exhibition catalog). Caracas: Ocre Room, 1973.
Cinap, A 101.
Cruz-Diez, Carlos. Sculptures (exhibition catalog). Caracas: Graphic Gallery / CB2, 1985.
Palenzuela, Juan Carlos. Paintings by Enrico Armas (exhibition catalog). Caracas: Arte Arte Gallery, 1992.
Palomero, Federica. On the edge of reality (exhibition catalog). Puerto Ordaz: Sidor, 1997. Acrylic on canvas