Alberto Ulloa was born a decade after a number of prominent Spanish artists were exiled to Santo Domingo, during the Spanish Civil War. The artists: renowned muralist Jose Vela Zanetti, painters and sculptors Angel Botello, Antonio Prats Ventos, Eugenio Granell, Manolo Pasqual, Jose Gausach, and German painter George Hausdorf.
Alberto Ulloa welcomed their 20th-century art movement. The European artists transplanted a wealth of knowledge, innovative ideas, and incredible skills in the founding and development of the Escuela de Bellas Artes, where Alberto Ulloa studied art.
Alberto was the second of eighteen children born to a tobacco and coffee farmer, Octavio Ulloa Martínez, and his wife Élida Colón Moya. Their small farm was located in Altamira, a hilly town near the coastal city of Puerto Plata, in the northern region of the Dominican Republic.
Altamira was this young boy’s cosmos. A special place for real magical events, unusual life-forms, landscapes, neighbors, animals, and insects and imaginary creatures from unknown worlds were cultivated to become a lifelong subject of his picturesque environment. It is also where an intrinsic and intense appreciation of color blossomed.
Alberto Ulloa was a distinguished student at Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santo Domingo, graduating with honors and was rewarded with a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, Spain, the alma mater of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. He wins first prize in the Primer Premio Bienal Internacional de Arte, Marbella, the prestigious Premio Nacional de Pintura Adaja and second prize in painting from Colegio Hispanoamericano, Madrid. He also exhibits at the Palacio de Cristal de Retiro in Madrid.
Ulloa’s talents came to the attention of Queen Sophia and King Juan Carlos at an exhibit hosted by the Dominican ambassador in Spain. The royal family was impressed by his works which became part of their permanent collection at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) of Madrid and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. The prolific artist participated in hundreds of exhibits around the world and is considered one of the greatest artists of the Dominican Republic.
He is the subject of four books that underscore his enormous contributions to Latin American art, including:- Alberto Ulloa, Palabras de Colores. Alberto Ulloa, Visionario Fantástico, Alberto Ulloa, Tiempo de Nacer, and Alberto Ulloa, El Paraíso de las Invenciones.
Alberto Ulloa evolved from impressionism to cubism, surrealism, and expressionism, with boldness and dedication. Ulloa's style resists a mere representation; his allegorical works on canvas transmit human symbols and enormous sensibility of his surroundings Geometric shapes fused with marvelous color illustrate the originality and extraordinary versatility. His mastery reflects multiple realities that redefined the old and new world and fused a nostalgic Iberian past and appreciation for a dazzling Caribbean.
He had an enormous passion for life captured in portraits of mystifying personalities, irascible animals, lush landscapes, the human sentiment, and reconstructed images. Ulloa's paintings and sculptures are the legacy of an extraordinary artist that will only gain greater appreciation in years to come.