Artist Joseba Lekuona Yaben manages to convey the complexity of the human race through the shapes of his stone sculptures
Artist Joseba Lekuona Yaben manages to convey the complexity of the human race through the shapes of his stone sculptures
The stone has been part of the Basque cultural landscape for thousands of years. Today, the primitive forms of the dolmens and stone circles live in harmony with the complexity of the stony volumes by Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza, figures that marked a turning point in this field of art.
There are quite few contemporary Basque creators who continue to make art with stone as their base, and there are even fewer who have been able to transmit their feelings through such a rough material. Joseba Lekuona Yaben is an exception to the rule, as he has been focusing on stone for artistic purposes for 25 years. His work is based on stereotomy (the art of cutting materials for applications in construction or in arts and trades), as well as on experimentation with cylindrical cuts, on observation of how light behaves when it hits the form, and on research into local geological nuances.
His background working with this material allows him to dominate it, molding it to the max. This results in forms that were once unthinkable, forms carved with extreme delicacy. While the majority of his sculptures use marble from Basque quarries, Lekuona also makes use of Carrara marble, volcanic rock, limestone, and basalt from other regions.
After putting his sculptures on display at several galleries in San Sebastián, and recently in a solo exhibition in Pamplona, his most famous piece, Bipolar, was sent to BASQUE LUXURY STUDIO for exhibition. This masterpiece is made up of two slabs of marble from Mutriku that were originally one. Lekuona cut the stone in two, providing each half with a complementary nature. The first one is curved and soft, with a gentle character. The second, however, looks like a torn trapezoid; its geometry is full of pointy tips and aggressive corners. Together, they form a unique personality, bipolar and somewhat unhealthy – a reflection, in the end, of the human being.
This psychoanalytic therapy applied to stone confirms not only that there is a certain continuity in the use of this material as a foundation for culture but also that, in thousands of years, people will continue to admire the beauty of this sculpture’s forms, aiming to understand the complexity of the human race of our times.
Hartea
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