Luis Alberto OSPITALECHE

Rivera (Uruguay), 1945

Drawing on his heritage (his grand-parents were born in Saint Jean Pied de Port and Erasun), Ospitaleche infuses his sculptures with the strength and life which he finds in Basque culture. That his works are currently being exhibited at the Navarre museum and the Urdax Cloister shows the artist’s attachment to the region and constitutes a kind of “coming back to his roots”.

This exhibition presents a small part of Ospitaleche’s artistic life which spans not only several decades, but also multiple creative domains. Ospitaleche has throughout his career enjoyed teaching and undertaking study trips. Not only has he had many exhibitions in museums throughout the world dedicated to his work, but the artist also has obtained commissions for monumental works and received many prizes. In fact, at the age of 67, Ospitaleche was awarded the MOROSOLI OF PLASTIC ARTS in 2012, amongst the most sought after prizes for Uruguyan visual artists.

In describing Luis Alberto Ospitaleche’s personality and creative process, visual artist Omar Santos states : “Through his works, he remains true to the fundamental and universal language of sculpture that runs through art since the time of Phidias in classical Greece to the present; yet he creates a unique form all his own. In these works, balance between volumes and empty spaces is achieved. Like many of the works currently exhibited at the Urdax Cloister, his small sculptural jewels seem to cry out to be enlarged to monumental size! As an artist, he has a creative personality which is authentic. His forms owe nothing to anyone. They are not continuities of any trend or artist. Ospitaleche is his own self— incomparable and absolute.”

       

 

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