Chillida Open-Air Sculptures

The public works of Eduardo Chillida, present in numerous cities in the world, figure among the most intense and telling creations of contemporary monumental-scale sculpture. In most cases, these works involve architectural, urban or landscape aspects, and the problem that the artist must face is the organization of the works in the space, whether in relation to the external environment in which the work is placed –– as in Wind Combs, in struggle with the aggressive Cantabrian Sea; in the idyllic peace of the Gure Aitaren Etxea (House of our Fathers), in Guernica; or in the Eulogy to the Horizon, in Gijón ––, or to interior space, closed and sometimes hermetic, which for the artist has a value that is both stimulating and creative. Throughout his essay, Giovanni Carandente analyzes, in addition to the artistic, stylistic and environmental aspects, the profound ethical implications of Chillida’s work; from steles dedicated to intellectuals, thinkers and friends, to tributes in recognition of poets and artists –– from Goethe and Khayyam to Hokusai and Miró. This volume also includes a wide selection of the Basque artist’s writings that bring us closer to his desire to “define the hollow three-dimensional through the full three-dimensional, establishing at the same time a kind of dialogue between them … The dialogue between the forms, whatever they may be, are much more important than the forms themselves.”