Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Ready for Tomorrow (Super Skin I)

Image caption
DARÍO URZAY

Ready for Tomorrow (Super Skin I)

  • 1992
  • Pigments in varnish and printed fabric on canvas
  • 45,7 x 45,7 cm
  • Cat. P_655
  • Acquired in 2001
By:
Beatriz Herráez

Ready for tomorrow (Super Skin I) (1992) is part of a series of works begun by Darío Urzay in 1989, when he moved to New York under a grant from the Basque Government.

It represents a continuation of many of the lines of exploration that he opened up in his career as an artist. Here, his 'excuse' or theme can be found (as suggested by the title) in fingerprints and skin. The earliest works in the series are painted in oils with primers, but here he uses resins, varnishes and printed fabrics. He interweaves different images as glazes and transparencies, building up a palimpsest which in turn hints at the universe of organic forms that can be found in his earlier works. In this weave, background and surface merge in a play of perceptions that shies away from any evidence of meaning. In spite of his evasive position, Urzay's 'out of focus' depiction hints at an opaque, abstract, colourist landscape that could well be a detail of human skin tissue under magnification. It is no coincidence that Urzay has often said that his many points of reference include the study of biology and neuroscience; these are areas into which this work could easily fit, given that it comes from the same ambiguous place, tending towards 'artifice', as many other works by him. These are images that ask questions of reality, based on a careful study of form.

Other pieces from the same series, entitled Super Skin I and II, are held in the BBVA Collection.

Beatriz Herráez

 
By:
Beatriz Herráez
Darío Urzay
Bilbao 1958

Darío Urzay graduated in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country, where he then lectured from 1983 to 1987. He subsequently lived and worked in London and New York before returning to Bilbao in the late 1990s. In 1983 he won the Basque Government's Gure Artea Award and in 2005 the National Award for Graphic Arts, to mention just two of his many accolades throughout his career.

Urzay is quoted as saying that 'art must operate in an open, non-exclusive world; a world of changes and continuous symbioses, where there is feedback between personal poetry and observations, resulting in new forms of knowledge and communication'. His output over the course of almost 40 years uses abstraction as a way of tackling the complex reality that surrounds us. Exhaustive analyses of the techniques used in constructing his images (ranging from the exploration of the most traditional painting procedures to resources such as photography and digital imaging) has led to Darío Urzay's work being described by critics as 'alchemy'. It comprises a blend of such widely differing fields of reference as geography, biology, chemistry, computer programming and applied iconography. Solo exhibitions of his work include shows at the Maior Gallery in Palma (2015), the Juan Silió Gallery in Santander (2014), the Pilar Serra Gallery in Madrid (2011 & 2014) and the ICO Museum, also in Madrid (2009). He has also taken part in several group exhibitions, including events at the Cibeles Centre in Madrid (2015), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2014), Es Baluards in Palma (2014), the Patio Herreriano Museum in Valladolid (2014) and the Reina Sofía in Madrid (2010).

Beatriz Herráez

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.