Martin Chirino (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1925-2019) was one of the most important sculptors of recent decades. He was Medalla de Oro del Círculo de Bellas Artes and president of this institution between 1982 and 1992.

In 1944, he began his artistic studies at the academy of sculptor Manuel Ramas. Later, he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, but abandoned those studies to enter the San Fernando School of Fine Arts (Madrid). After graduating, he focused his work on ironwork, a path reinforced by his travels to Paris and London, where he completed his training at the School of Fine Arts.

In 1958 he joined the El Paso group, which included Antonio Saura, Manolo Millares, and Rafael Canogar, among others. It was during this time that he found what would become his leitmotiv, the allegorical motif of his entire career: The Spiral, the Wind as a result of his reflection on pre-Hispanic iconography and the legacy of his culture.

Throughout his career, he exhibited regularly in the world's leading cultural capitals. Among many other venues, his work has been featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Thessa Herold Gallery in Paris, and the Sefan Röpke Gallery in Cologne.

He was awarded, among others, the International Sculpture Prize at the Budapest Biennial, the National Prize for Visual Arts, the Canary Islands Prize for Visual Arts, and the CEOE National Sculpture Prize. He founded the Atlantic Center for Modern Art in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1991) and headed the Board of Directors that revived it. el Círculo de Bellas Artes after the Franco regime (1982).

He was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2008) and by the Nebrija University of Madrid (2011).