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Roberto Ugalde was born in Rio Blanco (White River), a small village in the state of Queretaro, Mexico. Located in the Sierra Madre mountain range, he grew up surrounded by peaked vistas, flowing rivers, and abundant wildlife. Growing up in such a landscape nurtured his appreciation for Nature and inspired his creative talent.

Aspen trees and the way the light plays through their leaves and bodies, is his main subject. A friend once quoted Mary Oliver’s words in describing Ugalde’s capture of the aspen trees, “Roberto has the most gifted way of capturing the trees as they turn their own bodies into pillars of light. At times, it blows my mind, because the way the light filters into his art… it’s like I’m standing in a photograph of an aspen grove.” 

Ugalde’s art is based on the Jackson Pollock technique of dropping, throwing, and applying industrial oil based paint with a pallet knife on a horizontal position over a wood panel on top of a spinning table. Once the paint is dry, he touches up the colors and features. As a result, breathing life and light into his piece. Ugalde states, “Every time I look around me, I see this beautiful world full of colors and forms and my first impulse is to transform my vision and emotions in a way that connects and reconnects people to Nature.”