20181212_MUN_InauguracionExposicionJorgeOteiza

The University Museum of Navarre has inaugurated this Wednesday Genesis of abstraction in the murals of Jorge Oteizaa sample co-produced with the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation that can be visited until February 10th.

The exhibition proposes a contextualization of the two great murals Homage to Bach y Elias in his chariot of fire that the artist conceived in 1956 commissioned by the Navarre collector María Josefa Huarte and that today are part of the University of Navarra Museum Collection. It also brings together other pieces on loan from the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation, including sculptures, drawings, collages and documentation.

Gregorio Díaz Ereño, director of the Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation; Javier Arana, director attachment of the University of Navarra Museum; and the curators Elena Martín, manager of conservation of the Jorge Oteiza Museum, and Ignacio Miguéliz, manager of the curatorial area of the University of Navarra Museum were present at the presentation .

Arana stressed that it is "a wonder and an honor to present this exhibition, which is the result of good institutional relations between two museums to which we are united by the collection of Jorge Oteiza and the relationship with Huarte family and Rafael Moneo. In this line, has stressed the momentum that has been given in recent years in Navarre to this "work of the network of Museums, which benefits society".

For his part, Díaz Ereño highlighted the relationship between the two museums and explained that "those who see the exhibition at the University of Navarra Museum will be able to expand their knowledge at the Oteiza Museum". He also highlighted the "didactic nature" of both the sample and the texts that have been published for it.

Thanks to this partnership, a uniqueentrance has been set up, so that visitors will be able to visit both museums with a single ticket.

In their speech, the curators explained the keys to the sample, which also allows us to get to know the artist's creative process and researcher . Miguéliz pointed out that it is "an obligatory tribute due to the link that Oteiza had with the Huarte family, since Juan Huarte made it possible for Oteiza to devote himself fully to artistic creation". He has also pointed out the careful work that was carried out to move the murals from María Josefa Huarte's residency program in Madrid to Pamplona. In exhibition itself has recreated the lighting that the work Homage to Bach had in the house.

Elena Martín explained Oteiza's conception of the wall and space and stressed that the artist "wants to transform the wall into a space so that both the components and the void are activated. That space before the wall is very important because the spectator must be included in the representation".

He also detailed that, for example, in Homage to Bach, "the artist, through the incisions, has built a series of rhythms, of sequences, as if it were a pentagram. The mural also has five lines and on them he includes formal elements that create different intensities. He arranges rhythms, points of tension and spaces. He wants the viewer to have to stop. He has created a space for reflection, a spiritual space, so that the viewer feels comforted".

At the end of the presentation, the curators of the sample gave a masterclass on Oteiza's work.