February Art Guide - Bilbao

Recommendations of what to see in the Bilbao art scene this month by local insider María José Orihuela.

2019 started with good news for art lovers in Northern Spain: Chillida Leku Museum, former house of the great Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, reopens its doors to the public next April after 8 years of closure. It does so with a renovated team, some improvements on site and more importantly, a plan to host visiting exhibitions and hold events in collaboration with other art institutions. Counting the days until it happens!

I.

Exhibition: Alberto Giacometti. A Retrospective

Artist: Alberto Giacometti

Venue: Guggenheim Bilbao

Dates: until March 24th

Last June, Fondation Giacometti in Paris opened the doors of Atelier Giacometti, a faithful reconstruction of the artist’s studio in the same city. At the same time, Guggenheim New York held a major retrospective of the artist, showing nearly 200 sculptures, paintings, and drawings. This exhibition has now arrived to Bilbao and it is currently our best show.

© Alberto Giacometti

II.

Exhibition: En el Tiempo

Artist: Carlos Cánovas

Venue: Sala Rekalde

Dates: From February 15th until May 19th

Carlos Cánovas’s photography focus on spaces where nature and human intervention converge. His work is strongly tied to Bilbao and its industrial landscape, where many of the photographs of the series were taken. Its title is ambiguous relating to the temporal condition, it could be translated by “In Time”, but perhaps more accurately “Inside Time”. Exhibition produced by Museo Universidad de Navarra in collaboration with Museo ICO.

La Piel que Habitamos II (The Skin we Dwell On). 2018. Photography© David Latorre

III.

Exhibition title: Architecture, Body and Attire.

Artist: David Latorre

Venue: Juan Manuel Lumbreras Galería de Arte

Dates: until February 15th 2019

Spaces that are about to become a ruin are captured in their final catharsis by David Latorre’s photography. During a visit, one is likely to be exposed to mixed thoughts and feelings of nostalgia, romanticism and loss, surely a trip worth a try.

Learn more about Oh So Arty in Bilbao here!

Header Image: Sculpture park at Chillida Leku © Museo Chillida Leku

December Art Guide - Bilbao

Recommendations of what to see in the Bilbao art scene this month by local insider María José Orihuela.

I.

Exhibition: A Runaway World

Artist: Diana Thater.

Venue: Guggenheim Bilbao

Dates: until March 18th 2019

From time to time it is refreshing to escape from the surface of the museum walls and get immersed in a different format and dimension. Diana Thater’s video installation takes our senses and imagination to a faraway land, in Kenya, where a story about our changing world develops and makes us question our role in it. Using a phrase of the artist, it is an experience that lays somewhere “between science and magic”.

Diana Thater, A Runaway World, 2016-2017. Video installation Dimensions variable. Installation view, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Fredrik Nilsen © Diana Thater and The Mistake Room Inc.

II.

Exhibition: Hanging Figures

Artist: Juan Muñoz

Venue: Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

Dates: Until June 6th 2019

Hanging Figures is a guest artwork that can be a suggestive starting point of a visit to the museum. What I find in Juan Muñoz’s sculptures is a careful ambiguity in his representation. His figures, and particularly their faces, are both familiar and stereotypical, which leaves just enough room for the viewer to get unconsciously implied, complete the scene and relate to it quite intimately.

Exhibition photo, by MJ Orihuela.

III.

Exhibition: Tracing Memory

Artist: Aitor Ortiz

Venue: Museo Universidad de Navarra

Dates: until March 4th 2019

Tracing Memory is an outstanding photography exhibition that takes us to the University Museum of the neighbouring city of Pamplona. Aitor Ortiz’s work is twofold: on the one hand shows sheer excellence in architecture photography as we know it, on the other, there is a less linear and quite unique personal exploration.

Learn more about Oh So Arty in Bilbao here!

Header image: Aitor Ortiz’s installation at Museo Universidad de Navarra

November Art Guide - Bilbao

October was hectic in Bilbao with the city hosting the 25th edition of MTV’s European Music Awards (EMA). The city aims to keep up the energy this month with events, exhibition openings and FIG Bilbao, the international prints and art on paper fair. Discover Oh So Arty private art tour options in Bilbao here!

I.

Exhibition: FIG Bilbao, International Print and Art Works on Paper Art Festival

Artists: Jorge Oteiza, Eduardo Chillida, Rafael Canogar, Ouka Leele, Katsumi Komagata, Iñaki Elosua Urkiri.

Venue: Euskalduna Conference Centre

Dates: 15-18th November

Formerly a prints & illustration festival, this rapidly growing show is getting more interesting by the year. By slightly shifting its scope towards prints & works on paper, it has opened the way to more galleries into the show. Some unmissable shows are: the Japanese xylography show, La Taller’s space, and Michel Mejuto’s gallery jewels, like a work by El Paso artist Rafael Canogar that was never exhibited before and I bet it finds a new home before the first half of the festival is over!

FIG Bilbao 2018, photo by María José Orihuela

 II.

Exhibition: Erlea Maneros Zabala. Work 2017 - 2018

Artist: Erlea Maneros Zabala

Venue: Carreras Mugica

Dates: Until December 7th

Based between Lekeitio, Spain and Joshua Tree, California, Erlea Maneros (Bilbao, 1977) is a widely renowned artist whose conceptual work addresses, among other issues, the conflicts generated by image production and their distribution. A perfect fit for Carreras Mugica’s poetic gallery space.

Exhibition photo, work by Erlea Maneros Zabala

III.

 Exhibition: After 68. Art and Artistic Practices in the Basque Country 1968–2018. Part I: Music.

Artists: Pedro Iturralde, Delorean, Mocedades, Barricada, Duncan Dhu, Tulsa, Kortatu, Elena Setién.

Venue: Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

Dates: Until April 4th

The greatness of this Basque art exhibition is such that this month I’m going to focus solely on one section of it: the one dedicated to Music, located on the museum’s top floor. It is worthy to take some time to listen, even randomly, to the carefully selected musical pieces. Try for instance, Las Morillas de Jaén (1968), by Pedro Iturralde to see how a Basque composer can deal with such a genre as “Flamenco Jazz” and enjoy how delightful it can be. Plus, the exhibition is loaded with lots interesting events around its theme.

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Header image: FIG Bilbao 2018, photo by María José Orihuela

September Art Guide - Bilbao

Fresh and irreverent, the current art scene of Bilbao brings some ways to kick out the end of the summer blues.

I.

Exhibition title: Post-conflict. Reframing a dialogue.

Artists: Live Wild Collective, Chow & Lin, Erik Kessels & Thomas Mailaender,  Luca Locatelli, Sofía Moro, Simon Norfolk, Juan Valbuena.

Venue: Getxophoto International Festival

Dates: until September 30th

Image takes over the city of Getxo, in the greater Bilbao area. Spread all over the facade of some public buildings, on subway walls, inside ephemeral beach boxes and even floating in the water, the festival welcomes a variety of photography formats around the theme of leaving a conflict behind. A chance to enjoy art as a part of city life, where one can wander through the derelict Punta Begoña galleries, jump on Trump’s face in Getxo Antzokia, and enjoy art at this beautiful coastal location.

Getxophoto highlights

II.

Exhibition title: Shadow Play

Artists: Javier Téllez

Venue: Guggenheim Bilbao

Dates: Until November 18th

Poetic and full of symbols, the work of the Venezuelan artist Javier Téllez manages to trigger through video format our best instincts and sense of humanity around a theme as contemporary as the condition of refugee.

Javier Téllez, Shadow Play, 2014. Film installation, 35 mm film projection. Film still, courtesy of the artist and Peter Kilchmann galerie, Zurich © Javier Téllez

III.

Exhibition title: Infinite Garden. Regarding Bosch.

Artist: Álvaro Perdices

Venue: Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

Dates: Until September 17th

The Garden of Earthly Delights is an enigmatic triptych, painted c. 1490 - 1500 by Hieronymus Bosch, which comes to a new life through the work of a contemporary artist. A dark large room is filled with carefully curated fragments of the work of the Flemish artist, Bosch, enlarged, put into motion and interwoven into some kind of narrative. Let this work surround and mesmerize you.

Infinite Garden. Regarding Bosch.

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Header image: Jump Trump by Erik Kessels and Thomas Mailaender

February Art Guide - Bilbao

February is art month in Spain. ARCO art fair in Madrid is the main event, happening from the 20th to the 25th and it is an unmissable opportunity for galleries and museums all over the country to stand out and benefit from some of the momentum it creates. This year, the gallery Carreras Mugica will represent Bilbao at the capital, while those art spaces within the city are making their first statements of 2018.

I.

Exhibition: Bruce Davidson
Venue: Sala Rekalde
Dates: Until May 6th, 2018

Bruce Davidson’s retrospective brings to light a broad selection of his personal projects, which are often years-long exercises on photography and human relations. He did these projects independently, financially supported by his “real job” as a freelance photographer for LIFE magazine and other commissions. His work brings a deeply touching insight into several overlooked social situations mainly across the US, but also in England, Sicily and Spain.

Gangs, rural life, elderly lifestyles… the characters represented look straight into the eye of the photographer, telling us that Bruce Davidson has gained his trust, and that he is not a stranger or a passer-by, but an actual opportunity to make their voice heard.

“If I am looking for a story at all, it is in my relationship to the subject - the story that tells me, rather than that I tell.” Bruce Davidson.

Coney Island, New York, 1959 © Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos

II.

Exhibition: Beyond Black
Artists: Francis Bacon, Luis Feito, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Cy Twombly.
Venue: Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
Dates: Until February 26th, 2018

February is the last chance to visit this heterogeneous mix of colour prints, featuring the work of early Japanese printmakers alongside Cy Twombly’s example of mixed technique, and XXth century Miró’s experimental use of printed pigments, among many others. This show follows up and collaborates with FIG Bilbao, the international print fair that celebrated its 7th edition last November. By focusing on a particular technique, the exhibition allows an inspiring and light transversal view on art history and suggests that contagiousness (or trend) does have a role in an artist’s choice of technique.

Works by Cy Twombly & Robert Motherwell at Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

III.

Exhibition: Censorship (CENSURAS-ZENTSURAK)
Artist: Agustín Ibarrola
Venue: Bizkaia Aretoa
Dates: Until February 28th, 2018

Two themes among the work of Agustin Ibarrola are curated and placed in one of the two exhibition rooms: ‘Censuras’ (censorship in Spanish) displays the anti-regime prints, posters and collages of the artist done and hidden during the dictatorship period in the country. ‘Zentsurak’ (censorship in Basque) displays a number of works on another delicate subject, the anti terrorist fight against ETA. Two difficult topics full of ideological implications, that are treated with precision and adequacy through art.

Encapuchados, 2017 © Agustín Ibarrola

Take a tour with Maria in Bilbao to discover more!

header image: Allen Jones at Bilbao Fine Arts Museum