Born in Salamanca in 1945, Idelfonso Aguilar has lived in Lanzarote since he was eight months old. Between 1963 and 1968, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, earning a degree as a Professor of Drawing and Painting. From 1970 to 1976, he taught Drawing and Modeling at the School of Applied Arts and Artistic Crafts in Arrecife, Lanzarote. During this period, he created various audiovisual works about Lanzarote using photography, sound, and video. In 1978, 1979, and 1980, he traveled to different countries producing audiovisuals and music recordings.
From 1968 to 1985, he served as Director of the Department of Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote. From the beginning of his artistic career, he was responsible for the musical ambiance of Lanzarote’s Centers for Art, Culture, and Tourism: Jameos del Agua, Volcanic Route, Cueva de los Verdes, International Museum of Contemporary Art, Casa del Campesino, and the Cactus Garden.
Since 1986, he has dedicated himself exclusively to artistic activity, also acting as a consultant on various cultural and artistic projects for public institutions on the island. In 1989, he founded and has since directed the Lanzarote Festival of Visual Music. In 1993, commissioned by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, he was the artistic director of the landscape restoration project “Ruta de Janubio,” for which he designed a light and sound installation in the crater of El Golfo.
In 1999, he completed the second phase of the Art, Culture and Tourism Center Casa del Campesino, originally created by César Manrique. In 2012, he was appointed Full Member of the Painting Section of the Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel, and in 2015, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Government of the Canary Islands. In 2016, he was named Honorary Advisory Council Member of Lanzarote’s Centers for Art, Culture and Tourism, and was also granted the title of Adoptive Son of Lanzarote. In 2024, the Cabildo of Lanzarote awarded him the Timanfaya de Oro for the Arts.
He has published catalogs, books, and photography journals, as well as music recordings. He has designed numerous original graphic works for posters, labels, books, and albums. Since 1964, he has held solo exhibitions of painting and photography in various countries, and has developed land art pieces, multimedia installations, and audiovisual projects.