Bilbao becomes the world showcase of engraving for young artists
Exhibition of prints by young talents in the La Terminal space, in Zorrozaurre. /
The Open Portfolio program moves to Zorrozaurre and takes on the work of 16 authors, both from France and from Peru, Israel and Romania
Open Portfolio changes its setting and moves to the Zorrozaurre peninsula. The support program for the new graphics opens a new edition that will take place throughout the weekend in the space of La Terminal. Sixteen authors from the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, France, Peru, Romania or Israel, will participate in this meeting that anticipates the International Engraving Fair (FIG), scheduled for November. Unlike previous calls, only one appointment with the young talents has been planned. “This year a previous meeting took place in Buenos Aires in which we selected four Argentine authors,” explains David Arteagoitia, its director. «Our intention is to continue celebrating the first abroad and we have started with Latin America. The idea is that the continent rotates through other countries of that ».
Four of the artists present in Bilbao will join the list that will be able to show their work at the FIG. “The main novelty is that they will enjoy greater visibility because they will have their own support in which each of those present will show one or several pieces,” he indicates. In addition to exhibiting their work, the winners of the contest will receive four scholarships.
Almost a decade after its launch, Open Portfolio has become a showcase for the evolution of the discipline. “It is no longer just about traditional engraving, but also about expanded graphics,” he points out and points out the existence of connections linked to sculpture or installation. «There has been an important evolution in technical matters and the use of materials, and, likewise, computing has been incorporated, the creation of images by artificial intelligence and, above all, the greatest changes have to do with speech. We artists are permeable to the context and this has been modified. The idea of landscape and portrait persists as fundamental motifs, but the way in which they are approached has changed. There is another way of looking.
The profile of the author interested in graphic creation has also undergone transformations. “Every day it is more heterogeneous,” he warns and points out that the stereotype of the engraver in his workshop is replicated in the face of a much more open concept that understands it as one more creative process within contemporary art. “There is a quarry that moves within the world of graphics or that has a graphic thought, that is, that takes into account parameters such as serialization or multiplication.”