Itziar Okariz: I Never Said Umbrella

Itziar Okariz (San Sebastian, 1965) is a sculptor who works through text, images and voice to address concerns linked to the politics of the representation of the body and to the production of space as the stage for this representation. Her artistic practice takes as subject matter questions relegated to a secondary level by those categories of Western thought that have placed the emphasis on the abstract and the bodiless.  An approach based on the materiality of the language and the relationship between body and sculpture. Among the sources and references present in her work are names and ideas coming from the fields of literature and feminist thought, and also from music and the language of film.

This exhibition combines the artist’s previous works and recent productions such as Ujayi (2018), an installation that begins with a type of breathing used in the practice of yoga, and Las Estatuas (2018), a series of actions that stress the effects of the occupation of public space that she carries out with her pieces. The title of this exhibition I Never Said Umbrella comes from a misunderstanding of a song by David Bowie.

In recent years, Itziar Okariz has conducted workshops in collaboration with other artists, such as the one held last summer in Tabakalera and she co-directed Kalostra experimental art school (San Sebastián, 2015).

Since the 1990s her work has achieved international visibility as part of exhibitions and performance programs organized in Ars Parcours, Art Basel (Basel); Palais des Beux-Arts, BOZAR (Brussels); Le 102 (Grenoble); Luisa Strina Gallery (Sao Paolo) and the Chiado Museum (Lisbon). It has also recently been exhibited in spaces and institutions such as: CA2M (Madrid) and MNCARS, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid).

I Never Said Umbrella is the conclusion of a cycle of exhibitions that began at the Kunsthaus Baselland (Basel) in March 2017. In 2018, a publication on the work of Itziar Okariz will be published, co-edited by Tabakalera, CA2M and Kunsthaus Baselland, with the support of the Etxepare Basque Institute.

Curated by Beatriz Herráez