Ignacio Goitia moves his artistic vision to his new boutique in Bilbao: Ignacio Goitia Art Store
Ignacio Goitia moves his artistic vision to his new boutique in Bilbao: Ignacio Goitia Art Store
With more than thirty years’ experience in the field of art, Ignacio Goitia has become a painter of international renown. In recent times, he has successfully held numerous exhibitions in different cities like Bilbao, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, Paris, Lisbon, Monterrey, Miami, and New York.
His work is a place of artistic sublimation; a declaration of principles where freedom governs the choreographed steps of the characters portrayed. Art –and in his case painting– allows him to build and give free rein to his personal take on the world. Most of the architectural settings that appear in his paintings were built centuries ago, but they continue to be part of our present. In general, these are large buildings related to established power that were designed in order to impress their visitors by showcasing the importance or superiority of those who had them built. Many times, the beauty and majesty of these architectural wonders hide other intentions that go beyond the purely aesthetic. This duality in terms of interpretation is what he is interested in highlighting when choosing this type of building as the backdrop for the scenes in his paintings.
In his work, giraffes were what initially and ironically contrasted with the grandiose scale of the buildings. This is because, in the artist’s opinion, it seemed that the constructions had been erected for animals of those proportions rather than for people, no matter how important or powerful they were – one example of this: Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles.
The artist uses the unique mix of individuals that inhabit his large scenes to reflect on a plural society made up of a variety of players and situations that would have been censored in other times and that, even today, continue to be censored in some places or by certain sectors of our society. Something similar happens in the paintings in which men dressed in morning suits, bullfighters, and representatives of order –among others– appear next to North African camels and harnessed elephants from India, creating a unique dialog between East and West in which the wealth that can arise from migratory cultural exchanges is expressed. With his constant sense of humor, he also highlights the inequalities in the treatment that immigrants receive – depending on their economic status. In short, the work of Ignacio Goitia proposes a universe where respect prevails and in which values such as personal freedom, open-mindedness, and human dignity are exalted.
Likewise, his role as art director and exhibition designer is worthy of mention. His latest commission of this type consisted of staging the exhibition “Palabras de viajeros” (“Travelers’ Words”) at the National Library of Spain, with works belonging to the Library itself, the House of Alba, and the Prado Museum, among others.
In addition to his paintings and exhibition halls, Ignacio Goitia has transferred his artistic vision to numerous everyday objects: shawls, scarves, underplates, tableware, printed wallpaper… all of which is available in the boutique that he has just opened in Bilbao. It is an old two-story jewelry store that today has become the earthly representation of this artist’s eclectic and rich inner world. In the old safe of the jewelry store (which is the size of a small room), a selection of the author’s acrylic pieces is on display, with this being the most peculiar exhibition room in the Basque Country – and the one housing the greatest imagination.
Ignacio Goitia Art Store
Calle del Dr. Achúcarro 1, Bilbao.
Tel.: +34 946 276 051
