Series 04: Space occupied for certain periods. Virtual sculptures in real space, 1981-1983
San Telmo Museum. An exhibition of Basque geometrics curated by Iñaki Ruiz de Eguino. My installation of pure pigment Blue Painting in a geometrical space, framed in real space, with lines of gold-colored cord.
In the catalogues for a series of exhibitions mounted in the Basque Country way back when in the early 80s, curated
by José Ramón Morquillas, then Director of this BBK gallery, entitled “Basque Geometrics”, I defi ned exactly where my plastic exploration had taken me:
MY ARTISTIC EXPLORATION One level: Discovery of interior space – exterior space Another level: De-occupation of interior space. And another level: Occupation of exterior spaces, for certain periods ••• “What a big mouth you have! All the better to eat you! And the Wolf swallowed Little Red Riding Hood in one. ••• After a while in the dark, Little Red Riding Hood became bored and restive. As no hunter came to rescue her, she decided the best thing to do would be to tickle the wolf’s stomach and make him laugh so much he’d sick her up. And that was exactly how Little Red Riding Hood regained her freedom. ••• I was there, and I tell you it was a clean job, no guts ripped, no buckets of blood. And off she went, singing in the rain, with her hands wet and her face dry. Looking, always looking. Occasionally, she’d give a shout. To keep out the fear. Despite, she walks home happy. She wants to be” ••• |
Out of the desire to construct –draw– sculptures in real space, with such simple elements as thin pieces of wood or thread painted blue, white or gold, came the concept of the occupation of real spaces for a certain time. In the early 80s, Iproduced what would later come to be known as installations. At the BBK, Lamiak, the San Telmo Museum –in another exhibition focusing on the Basque Geometrics also organized by artist and art critic Iñaki Ruiz de Eguino– the Museum of Álava and other places. The idea was to make a virtual sculpture in real space, a space marked out, drawn, with fi ne painted thread, to which I occasionally added drawings, photos or paintings associated, in form or concept, with the virtual sculpture itself.
Around that time I felt this incredible urge to construct architecture. The black sculpture, also from the early 80s, was conceived as a project for an Auditorium.