Koldobika Jauregi

Alkiza 1959

“Art is absolutely of no use and it is what makes its value” is one of Koldobika Jauregi’s favourite sentence. It really sums up the deliberate and wise approach that he has about his art. But to know a little more, one must meet the man in his workshop in order to understand the artist: a rural and bucolic workshop, away from the city and urban constraints, a magical place named Ur Mara surrounded by oaks and ferns with, for only noise, the distant murmur of the brook Arraiaga.

The inspiration of the self-taught sculptor springs from that, from this nature, from its land and its nights also! Night when he stays awake and observes the dark which hides the landscape and modifies its perception; night and darkness which calm and bring silence. Darkness, silence and meditation are typical of his works. After years of excessive figuration and in spite of an early recognition Jauregi evolved towards a more abstract and plain language, a language made of signs and symbols powerfully anchored in stone, wood or steel to translate exactly his feelings and his moods. A language which is born also from an instinctive and primordial drawing, which translates immediately the spontaneity of the inspiration and anticipates the sculpted work.

Not to offend him, Koldobika Jauregi’s art is not of no use, it invites us to serenity and spirituality. One guesses then, looking at the voluminous, cut and engraved blocks of marble or the carefully chiselled and decorated steel sheets, the meaning of the message and the important place of the artist in Basque sculpture.