Mario Irarrázabal

MARIO IRARRAZABAL (Santiago de Chile, 1940)
"Tower in Souls".
In bronze.
Signed.
Granite base.
Measurements: 20 cm (sculpture height); 15 x 15 x 2 cm (base).

Work of strong symbolic load in which the artist builds a vertical volume, like a tower or bastion, crowned by a circle of schematized human figures that look out to the central emptiness. The composition refers to recurring themes in Irarrázabal's production: the human condition, collective introspection and the relationship between the individual and the community.

The material treatment of the bronze, with its rough surface and expressive modeling, reinforces the sensation of density and seclusion. The verticality of the "tower" suggests refuge, isolation and at the same time contemplation, in a sober and profoundly humanistic language characteristic of the Chilean sculptor.

Mario Irarrázabal was educated in the United States at the University of Notre Dame, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Art and Philosophy and a Master's degree in Fine Arts. He later continued his studies in Rome and in Germany, where he worked with the sculptor Waldemar Otto.

Since 1969 he has been fully dedicated to sculpture. He has been a professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a scholar of the German government at the Atelier-Haus Worpswede. Although he also develops pieces of intimate format, he is internationally known for his monumental sculptures, especially his famous hands installed in cities such as Punta del Este, Venice, Madrid or in the Atacama Desert. He has received numerous awards and recognitions in biennials and international competitions since the 1970s.