Carlos Gorriarena was born in Buenos Aires on December 20, 1925. At the age of 17, he enrolled at the National School of Fine Arts, where he studied under two major figures: Lucio Fontana in sculpture and Antonio Berni in drawing. In 1948, he left the institution to pursue an independent course of study with the painter Demetrio Urruchúa, a key figure in social realism who would have a lasting influence on his development.

He held his first solo exhibition in 1959 and was a co-founder of the Grupo del Plata, active between 1960 and 1964. In 1962, he was invited to Vence (France) by the Michael Karolyi Memorial, directed by Bertrand Russell. Between 1971 and 1972, he lived in Madrid, further expanding his international experience.

In 1986, he was awarded the Grand Prize of Honor at the National Salon, the highest distinction in the visual arts in Argentina, for his work Pin Pan Punk. His work is associated with what has been termed Political Art, a current initiated in Argentina by Antonio Berni in the 1930s. However, his practice goes beyond propaganda: it constitutes a sharp ethical questioning of social reality, in which the political emerges as an inherent dimension of contemporary experience.

A tireless painter, from the mid-1950s onward he held more than two hundred exhibitions in Argentina and abroad. He also played a significant role in the training of younger generations of artists.