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"Gaudí left messages in his work to move towards a happy future for humanity", this was stated today by the sculptor of the Sagrada Familia Etsuro Sotoo during the lecture that he gave under the degree scroll "Learning from Gaudí: conversations about the Sagrada Familia" at framework of the XVI Forum of Humanities of the University.

The artist affirmed that "no one has yet seen Gaudí's style because his work points to the future, to how we have to live the future in a more human way and how we have to collaborate in God's creation". In his meeting with the students, the Japanese Gaudí, as he is known, assured that the work of the Catalan artist has helped him to interpret and explain life. For this reason, Sotoo pointed out that "you don't have to look at Gaudí, but at where Gaudí looked" in order to understand his work.

"Gaudí is an artist who has left many messages in his work about how we can improve and advance humanly," the sculptor has stated. In 1978 Esturo Sotoo began working with works by Gaudí and since then has sculpted fifteen works on the Nativity Façade of the Sagrada Familia and has designed the finials of the gables of the naves with Eucharistic and symbolic motifs, as well as the decoration of the windows and their pinnacles in the form of fruits of the temple.

During the lecture, the Japanese artist analyzed the parts of the temple and the symbolism hidden in it, through images that project messages of hope, forgiveness and joy. "Everyone can be a sculptor of the Sagrada Familia if they keep the heart of a child," he said. He also wanted to encourage the attendees to always maintain hope despite the vicissitudes of life, since, as he says "a small hope can become the hope of all humanity". "I am convinced that Gaudí was looking for a happy future for humanity, and we have to follow him," he said.

A meeting by students, for students

The sculptor intervened in the XVI Forum of Humanities organized by the students of this Degree of the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University that this year has taken by degree scroll "The Humanities in the world". Throughout the workshop, the participants were able to attend to a lecture of the professor of Aesthetics of the University Ricardo Piñero, who spoke about the art of thinking with the hands, focusing on the figure of Antoni Tàpies, as well as a roundtable on NGOs for culture and society, in which students who are part of different associations intervened. The forum also included a film forum presented by Alberto Cañada, manager of the Navarra Film Library, who commented on the film The Monuments Men, by George Clooney.