Jorge Oteiza

“ (...)The space realized in these works has no precedent. They convey a particular vastness derived from the whole. They are not closed solutions; but instead deal with problems so fundamental in invention that the work has moved other sculptors to repeat or to extend this syntax. Oteiza has discovered a self-evident language that others have found useful in ways not formally anticipated. In effect, the work continues to influence.” Richard Serra

June 17, 2005, New York, NY – Haim Chanin Fine Arts is pleased to present, in conjunction with the retrospective Oteiza: Myth and Modernism at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, a selection of works by Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza (1908–2003) from the gallery inventory. On view from July 1 through July 28, 2005, this presentation features six important geometric sculptures in alabaster and iron dating from the 1950s to the 1970s and representative of the artist's most influential period, and a selection of collages that capture the artist’s reductionist tendencies.

Jorge Oteiza’s visionary explorations of three-dimensional space earned him a place among the masters of Modern sculpture and the respect of Richard Serra and Frank Gehry, to name a few. Oteiza pushed spatial exploration to the limits; beyond Moore, he challenged the idea of sculpture as a solid body and sought to free the space of mass. Behind his work’s apparent minimalism lies the desire to capture the immaterial Void, to seize the spiritual. Oteiza also contributed significantly to the development of new philosophical and art theories through his extensive writings.

Among the numerous honors Oteiza received are the first prize in the Spanish National Competition (1949), the National Architecture Prize for a project at Capilla de Santiago (1954), the International Sculpture Prize in the IX São Paulo Bienal, along Morandi and Ben Nicholson (1957), the Príncipe de Asturias Prize in the Arts (1988), named Doctor honoris causa in Arts and Philosophy (1992), which he refused, the Pevsner Prize (1996), and the Medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (1998). Oteiza’s work has been exhibited in such prestigious institutions as the Grey Gallery, Washington, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bilbao, Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, and MACBA, Barcelona (1998).

The retrospective on view this summer at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has previously traveled to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

Pressetext

Jorge Oteiza - Sculptures and Collages