Born in Valen­cia, Spain in 1965 Amadeo Peñalver grad­u­at­ed with a degree in fine art from the Uni­ver­si­dad Politec­ni­ca de Valen­cia in 1987. In 1988, he won a schol­ar­ship to attend the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris.

He devel­oped his paint­ing style in tan­dem with inter­na­tion­al artists involved in the Euro­pean avant-garde of the 1980’s.

In 1989, Peñalver trav­els exten­sive­ly in South Amer­i­ca and his expe­ri­ences in the Ama­zons in par­tic­u­lar rever­ber­ate through much of his work in the 1990’s

In 1991, Amadeo moves to New York and founds “Ape Gallery” in Soho. From this vibrant and exper­i­men­tal art space he exhibits paint­ings, instal­la­tions, per­for­mances and sculp­tures by him­self and a range of inter­na­tion­al artists.