Oscar Noriega

Biography

Oscar Noriega is a Colombian sculptor and architect, born in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in 1969. He has stood out for creating various sculptures for public spaces in Cartagena and other municipalities of Colombia.

(Read also: Biography of Hernando Pereira Brieva)

Oscar grew up in the Getsemaní neighborhood of Cartagena. After the separation of his parents, Óscar Noriega (tax collector) and Ruby Sarmiento (nurse), he moved to Panama, later returning to Cartagena during the fall of dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. He often recalls as an anecdote that people thought he was related to the dictator, which is not true.

He completed his high school studies at the Liceo de la Costa, then took drawing courses with Jean Pierre Accault and watercolor workshops with Roy Valenzuela at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. He met Juan David Álvarez, who introduced him to several painters and sculptors, among them master Héctor Lombana, with whom he worked for twelve years.

Under Lombana’s tutelage, he learned dedication to art, as well as the discipline and technique it requires. He accompanied the master until his last days in Santa Marta, where Lombana passed away.

One of his greatest treasures, as he refers to it, is a sculpture by the great sculptor Enrique Grau, the work Adán y Eva, which he keeps with great admiration and acquired by chance as part of a job with the owner of the piece.

(Read also: Biography of Alfredo Tatis Benzo)

Noriega has distinguished himself as a sculptor and restorer of many works in Cartagena and several municipalities of Bolívar. Among his works, the most notable are the more than 20 sculptures created for the Espíritu del Manglar Park in Cartagena de Indias, where he portrays many important figures from the social life of Bolívar and its capital, Cartagena.

Works in Public Spaces

• Escultura a Kid Pambele (San Basilio de Palenque)
• Esculturas del parque espíritu del manglar (Cartagena)
• Estatua de Abel Leal (cartagena)
• Escultura del Joe Arroyo (Cartagena)
• Busto a Lascides Segovia (Cartagena)
• Busto a José Barros (El Banco Magdalena)