Mikel Lertxundi

Berriatua, Biscay, 1951

He live and create in close harmony with nature. He discovered art and nature as a child, when he used to recreate his surroundings using the clay he dug up in the fields.

In 1974, he made his first exhibition and in 1980 he travelled to Paris on a scholarship from the Caja de Ahorros Vizcaína where he was able to see and study the art being produced around the world.

Shortly after beginning his artistic career, he began to explore and experiment with combining stone, wood and iron, developing a distinctive style that results in a highly personal body of work and recognised in the field of Basque art. From the 1980s onwards, he also incorporated the elements of water, air and fire into one of his creative lines.

With over five decades of experience, he has exhibited at prestigious trade fairs such as ARCO (Madrid), FIA (Caracas), ART MIAMI (Miami), NICAF (Tokio), KIAF (Seúl) and in many galleries and exhibition spaces at home and overseas countries. He has also held major exhibitions of monumental sculptures at Zenarruza Monastery, in Arenatzarte Park, in squares and streets across Bilbao, and also has created art installations in natural settings.

His work is on display at the Fine Arts Museum Bilbao, at the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián, in the Kutxa Fundazioa Collection and at Pforzheim City Hall and at the Florence Assessorato di Cultura, among others. He also has numerous public artworks installed in various locations.

He has published essay collections on his ideas and work: “Lertxundi: Universal Art in Basque”, winner of the Euskadi Award for Best Publication and “Space, Earth, Time”