After studying Fine Arts first at Seville University and then in Barcelona (1980), Prudencio Irazabal was awarded a scholarship by Gipuzkoa Provincial Council to continue studying at Columbia University. He moved to New York in 1986, and living there marked his artistic career. His painting developed out of American painting of colour fields to focus on the physical and etymological aspects of the medium. In the early 1990s, he turned to a certain three-dimensionality to reflect on the meaning, possibilities and limits of materials, in layers of pigment that he cut or scratched, tackling the visual and metaphysical implications of his materials. Irazabal subsequently evolved towards the use of translucent coats of colour using liquid polymers. These create practically monochromatic undefined shapes of different intensities and luminosities on the surface, which contrast with the strong chromatic stratification that shows at the edges of the work, which he leaves visible of the viewer, unravelling its materiality and processuality as regards its illusory surface. At the turn of the century, his works became more vibrant and focused on light as the defining element, using saturated or subdued colours that seem to be diluted in indefinite forms towards white. This tendency reached its climax in the Highlights series (2004-2005), in which he expanded and diffracted the visible spectrum of colour using white light into blurred forms, towards a dematerialisation of the surface of his pictures.
Since his first exhibitions in 1985, his work has been shown widely in North America and in Europe. Special mention should be made of his solo shows at Sala Rekalde (Bilbao, 1994); the Conde de Gabia Palace exhibition centre (Granada, 2002); the Artium Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country (2009); the Caja de Burgos Contemporary Art Centre (2005); and the Gegenstandsfreier Kunst Museum (Otterndorf, Germany, 2011). At the end of 2017 his work was part of a group exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao entitled ‘Art and Space’. He had already exhibited there in 1999. During his time in the United States, his work was shown in different venues in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto. He was closely linked to the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and to the Helga de Alvear Gallery in Madrid.
Irazabal was awarded the Banesto Artistic Creation Grant (Madrid, 1989) and the Basque Government’s Visual Arts Grant (1990).
After studying Fine Arts first at Seville University and then in Barcelona (1980), Prudencio Irazabal was awarded a scholarship by Gipuzkoa Provincial Council to continue studying at Columbia University. He moved to New York in 1986, and living there marked his artistic career. His painting developed out of American painting of colour fields to focus on the physical and etymological aspects of the medium. In the early 1990s, he turned to a certain three-dimensionality to reflect on the meaning, possibilities and limits of materials, in layers of pigment that he cut or scratched, tackling the visual and metaphysical implications of his materials. Irazabal subsequently evolved towards the use of translucent coats of colour using liquid polymers. These create practically monochromatic undefined shapes of different intensities and luminosities on the surface, which contrast with the strong chromatic stratification that shows at the edges of the work, which he leaves visible of the viewer, unravelling its materiality and processuality as regards its illusory surface. At the turn of the century, his works became more vibrant and focused on light as the defining element, using saturated or subdued colours that seem to be diluted in indefinite forms towards white. This tendency reached its climax in the Highlights series (2004-2005), in which he expanded and diffracted the visible spectrum of colour using white light into blurred forms, towards a dematerialisation of the surface of his pictures.
Since his first exhibitions in 1985, his work has been shown widely in North America and in Europe. Special mention should be made of his solo shows at Sala Rekalde (Bilbao, 1994); the Conde de Gabia Palace exhibition centre (Granada, 2002); the Artium Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country (2009); the Caja de Burgos Contemporary Art Centre (2005); and the Gegenstandsfreier Kunst Museum (Otterndorf, Germany, 2011). At the end of 2017 his work was part of a group exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao entitled ‘Art and Space’. He had already exhibited there in 1999. During his time in the United States, his work was shown in different venues in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto. He was closely linked to the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and to the Helga de Alvear Gallery in Madrid.
Irazabal was awarded the Banesto Artistic Creation Grant (Madrid, 1989) and the Basque Government’s Visual Arts Grant (1990).