JORGE OTEIZA ENBIL (Orio, Guipúzcoa, 1908 - San... Lot 127

JORGE OTEIZA ENBIL (Orio, Guipúzcoa, 1908 - San Sebastián, 2003). "Zazpiak", 2001. Patinated bronze. P/A copy. Current print run of 6 copies plus one Author's proof. Work reproduced in the catalogue raisonné of the artist. Volume II, p. 611. Signed and justified by the artist. Size: 35 x 53 x 47 cm. Zapiak is considered Oteiza's last work, which, although it materialised in the 2000s, had been conceived by the artist in the 1970s, the result of his experimentation in the project known as the "Chalk Laboratory", in which the sculptor sought to extend spatial action through open forms, based on the tetrahedrons of the chalk and the divergences they generate. This sculpture is a reflection of the dynamic and light movement transferred to the use of bronze. The piece reflects the tension between each of the parts and the whole, which results in a piece of great rotundity where the space harmonises with the rotundity of the bronze. Jorge Oteiza is one of the fundamental Basque artists of the 20th century, as well as one of the most influential. The echoes of his work are perceptible, from the 1950s to the present day, in the work of numerous sculptors, painters and architects. Self-taught, Oteiza began his career by creating sculptures in the sphere of expressionism or primitivism initiated by Gauguin, Picasso and Derain. After a long stay in South America, the sculptor developed, both theoretically and practically, the foundations of his aesthetic, and brought out the "natural" sculptor in him, taking the necessary steps to become an artist in control of his mechanisms and tools. This intellectual adventure was reflected in texts such as "Letter to the artists of America" (1944) and "The aesthetic interpretation of American megalithic statuary" (1952). During these years he taught at the Escuela de Cerámica in Buenos Aires. At the end of the 1940s he returned to Spain, and in his work the influence of massive, monolithic sculpture underwent a process of dematerialisation. At the beginning of the 1950s, Oteiza was immersed in abstract research and began what he called his "Experimental Purpose" (1955), experimenting along the lines of constructivism. In 1957 he presented his work at the São Paulo Biennial and was awarded the special prize for sculpture. Two years later, believing that he had reached his conclusive phase, Oteiza abandoned sculpture. During the sixties and seventies he devoted himself to research into the Basque language and the popular manifestations of his people. In 1988 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts. He is currently represented in the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation in Alzuza, the Reina Sofía National Art Centre, the MACBA, the Guggenheim in Bilbao and New York, the Telefónica and Caixa Galicia Foundations and the Patio Herreriano Museum in Valladolid, among other public and private collections.