THE ANIMAL ITSELF IS A QUARRY OF ABSTRACT FORMS AND VOLUMES WHICH, WHEN SEPARATED AND REINTERPRETED, GIVE RISE TO SCULPTURES WITH THEIR OWN VALUE.
BIOGRAPHY
A return to nature in the age of new technologies underpins the work of CHIQUI DIAZ. When we see his works, we become perfectly aware of his connection with the environment, not only because the motif of his sculptures is animals, but also because the forms and movement are evidence of his profound knowledge of animals and his respect for the environment.
Born in 1967 in the Aljarafe area of Seville, (Spain) he began his artistic activity at the end of the eighties in the family bronze foundry, where he learnt the techniques of casting and was initiated into sculpture.
His passion for nature and his profound knowledge of animals led him to wildlife art, where he developed his work. Using bronze, wood and other materials such as steel, he creates forms never seen before among traditional animal artists.
Essential to his work is the morphological study of the animal and its behaviour in its environment. He interprets the forms with a very personal sense and an innovative and original concept: starting from a profound anatomical study, he separates the different parts of the body so that in the end each one of them takes on its own sculptural entity. The animal itself is the sum of these factors and also allows him to imprint on each sculpture a range of sensations that go from absolute rest to extreme speed.
As the artist says: "the animal itself is a quarry of abstract forms and volumes which, if they become independent of each other and are reinterpreted, give rise to sculptures with their own value".
In recent years, Chiqui Díaz has begun to investigate a new field: the integration of large-format sculptures with architecture, two disciplines which, when brought together, offer infinite possibilities in the world of artistic creation. In this sense, knowledge of the different techniques and materials for the development of a work offers a wide range of possibilities.
By putting engineering at the service of art, we can propose works that were previously unfeasible from the point of view of a traditional technique. Each material has its limitations, but the combination of different materials such as bronze, steel or titanium, are fundamental to develop any idea.
EXHIBITIONS
Chiqui Díaz exhibited for the first time at the Ingres Gallery, Madrid, in 1991. Since then, his artistic career has followed an ascending line, and his work has been exhibited in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Seville...) as well as in Portugal, the UK and, repeatedly in Paris, where he has a permanent exhibition in the Gallery Chateau at Bonnevaux.
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His exhibitions include those held at the Maison de la Chasse et de la Nature (Paris), in 1994 and 1996; at the European Parliament (Strasbourg), also in 1996; at the Art Mar Gallery in Barcelona, where he has exhibited every other year since 2000; at the Cajasur exhibition hall (Córdoba) in 2006 and the exhibition Conformatio Naturae, held in the Plaza de San Francisco in Seville, sponsored by the Regional Ministry of the Environment, in 2008.
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Special mention should be made of the exhibition Natural Drama, which was held during the summer of 2011 in the Los Toruños Metropolitan Park, in Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz), under the sponsorship of the Regional Ministry of Public Works, where he shared the poster with the sculptor Javier Ayarza. This exhibition opens a project, Natural Drama, which was born with the intention of uniting science and art, with a vocation for continuity and itinerancy, and which is characterised by a series of artistic actions such as the one that took place on 24 June 2011, the opening day, which you can see here:
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In addition to his personal output, it is important to point out that Chiqui Díaz has made numerous prizes awarded by different entities or institutions, such as the Andalusia Environment Prize, which is awarded every year by the Andalusian Regional Government (Junta de Andalucía).
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