...when someone starts building a house, his decision to do so is freely made; but all the elements must help. And yet the house is being built to protect Man against the elements. Hence the elements are here used against themselves; but the general law of nature is not disturbed thereby. The building of a house is, in the first instance, a subjective aim and design. On the other hand we have, as means, the several substances required for the work; iron, wood, stones. The elements are used in preparing this material: fire to melt the iron, wind to blow the fire, water to set wheels in motion in order to cut the wood, etc. The result is that the wind, which has helped to build the house, is shut out by the house; so are also the violence of the rains and floods and the destructive powers of fire, so far as the house is made fire-proof. The stones and beams obey the law of gravity and press downwards so that the high walls are held up. Thus the elements are made use of in accordance with their nature and cooperate for a product by which they become constrained.
Eduardo Chillida (San Sebastián, 1924-2002) is one of the most international Spanish artists of the second half of the 20th century and without a doubt the most recognized sculptor of this period. His work has crossed the borders of our country and the collections of the most relevant museums are present. Throughout his career he has exhibited in the most important galleries and museums around the world.
The success of Chillida lies in the richness of its proposal, the plastic quality and its constantly renewing character, which leads it to be always looking for and finding new aesthetic lines, without ever losing coherence. This wealth is due in large part to their courage to face new challenges with different materials, from plaster, alabaster, iron, steel, stone, concrete, wood, marble, terracotta, paper .... In Chillida, the material leaves from being a mere support to be an active agent with which the artist establishes a dialogue, and together they generate surprising new works, very different from those created in other media. An exceptional 1952 iron work entitled "Tres I" will be exhibited, in which Chillida takes three iron sickles and transforms them into a sculptural composition that dialogues with the space he inhabits, in the same way that his mythical art will do it years later " Comb of the Winds XV "of San Sebastián.
In the pieces of steel look more monumentality, which is observed in works present in the exhibition as "Topos, Estela VII" of 1988, or the famous "Gure Aitaren Etxea" that is in the House of Meetings of Guernica, the that will exhibit a steel studio from 1987. Also in steel will be the magnificent "Locmariaquer VI" (1989), a piece made from a metal plate that Chillida cut and folded geometrically, and of which he was particularly satisfied.
They will also show two of his sculptures on cooked earth, works made in Saint Paul de Vence (France) where he combines in one piece the volumetric character of the block with the geometric drawing that prints on it either by incision or application of rust.
His works deserve special mention on paper. Far from being sketches, they constitute another field where Chillida develops his aesthetic research with the same interest as in the rest of his sculptural work. They will be exhibited from their most gestural inks of the late 50s and early 60s, to their hand drawings, collages with pitch, and especially an important group of Gravitations, where paper ceases to be a support to become a volumetric element of sculptural character.
The exhibition is carried out in collaboration with the Eduardo Chillida Pilar Belzunce Foundation and the CarrerasMugica Gallery in Bilbao, where he will travel once he finishes in Madrid
On the occasion of the exhibition, a billing catalog has been published, accompanied by an essay by Germán Huici, where all the works are collected.
