Jorge Oteiza

JORGE OTEIZA ENBIL (Orio, Guipúzcoa, 1908 - San Sebastián, 2003).
"Open polyhedron with light module", 1976.
Alabaster. Copy 3/6.
Attached certificate issued by the artist.
Work reproduced in Badiola Txomin, "Oteiza. Catalog raisonné of sculpture", Volume III. p. 487.
Signed, dated and justified.
Measurements: 15 x 14.05 x 15 cm.
The evident abstraction of the work of straight, round and frank forms gives this sculpture a lyrical sense that is based on an aesthetic of telluric character. However, as in all of Oteiza's sculptures, the work is the result of an exhaustive study. The perforated circle is a light condenser, the cross-sections are a light catalyst and alabaster is a material carefully chosen for its translucent qualities, in fact, it was recurrent in Oteiza's work as seen in his iconic work Homage to Paul Klee (1955- 1956). Called light modules, these works, whose research began in the 1950s, are the result of spatial inquiries and the treatment of the spatial projection of sculpture by the absence of mass.
As the Juan March Foundation points out, "In his work as a whole, one can appreciate, with enormous coherence, what Oteiza himself called an "experimental purpose" that led him to investigate the qualities of real space. To this end, he began by opening up the interior of the figures, making channels and Punctures in the mass, reflecting on the hollow, in order to distill an expressiveness devoid of meaning that is expressed in a formal repertoire unheard of in the fifties".
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 making sculptures within the orbit 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 aesthetics, 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 will be reflected in texts such as "Letter to the artists of America" (1944) or "The aesthetic interpretation of American megalithic statuary" (1952). During these years he will teach at the School of Ceramics in Buenos Aires. At the end of the forties he returned to Spain, and in his work the influence of massive and monolithic sculpture underwent a process of dematerialization. In the early fifties, Oteiza is immersed in an abstract research, and begins what he calls his "Experimental Purpose" (1955), experimenting along the lines of constructivism. In 1957 he presented his work at the São Paulo Biennial, being awarded the extraordinary prize for sculpture. Two years later, understanding that he had reached his conclusive phase, Oteiza abandoned sculptural activity. During the sixties and seventies he devoted himself to researching 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 Center, 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.