Art Madrid'23 – PELLO IRAZU AND THE RENOVATION OF BASQUE SCULPTURE

Pello Irazu The land that sleeps, 1986. Steel and oil 66 x 120 x 39 cm. Soledad Lorenzo Collection. Deposited at MNCARS © VEGAP, Bilbao, 2017

 

 

Pello Irazu (Guipúzcoa, 1963) is a Spanish artist of Basque origin. Known for his sculptural gifts, he also draws drawings and murals. Influenced by the Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza, the space and its influence on artistic practices is a reference in the renovation of the Basque sculpture of the 80s. One of the main characteristics of his work is experimentation with materials and search The emotion of the spectator rather than the image he projects.

 

 

Pello Irazu The good teacher (on the table being a piece of wood)

 

 

His sculptures alternate three-dimensional minimal proposals with object-oriented hybrids and large installations. Panorama is not only a sculpture exhibition, it also shows photography, drawing and mural painting. Irazu delves into the problematic between the multiple relationships between our body with images, objects and space. The exhibition has been articulated by the sculptor himself and part of a series of photographs taken by him. The germ of this exhibition is his first work in steel, which covers its strength with a layer of paint added.

 

 

The artist Pello Irazu (Andoain, 1963), before one of his works in the Guggenheim.

 

 

The wall, and its function before the spectator are two issues to consider. The mural painting and the location of the different objects give a new meaning to this literary construction. Already in the 90's, Irazu, moves to New York and begins to work with other materials such as plywood or plastic. These textures, perfectly represent the wink to the domestic spaces. Reconstructing everyday objects discontinuously awakens in the viewer a double feeling of affection and estrangement that changes the meaning of these objects.

 

 

Pello Irazu Feliz, 1988. Construction in steel and oil 22 x 22 x 14 cm. Private collection, Barcelona © VEGAP, Bilbao, 2017

 

 

Already in the year 2000 returns to Bilbao and initiates a new phase of production where it resorts to forms suggestive for the spectator that insinuate a feeling of familiarity, ambiguity and strangeness. An artist, turned in the innovation that knew to give a new air to the concept of the Basque sculpture. Now, he is recognized in his land, in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, until June 25.

 

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.