Juan José Aquerreta

(Pamplona, 1946)

Cabeza de atleta (Athlete’s Head)

1993

plaster

65 x 43 x 53 cm

Inv. no. 4177

BBVA Collection Spain



In his practice as an artist, Juan José Aquerreta has always eluded labels and ignored the noise that comes with his justly deserved reputation. The body of work put together by this solitary, independent artist is underwritten by a sense of silence and timelessness, in search for the truthfulness of the represented motif. Although he mainly produces paintings and drawings, his mother, a sculptor herself, had instilled in him a love for three-dimensional work from an early age. His occasional sculpture allows him to render in three-dimensional form, with excellent results, the emphatic forceful volumes he creates on paper.

Portraiture is Aquerreta’s genre of choice, viewing it as a path toward self-knowledge and a way of dignifying and defending the uniqueness of each human being, something he proclaims by elevating the individual to the category of monument. He often depicts the sitter as an isolated figure, almost as if suggesting that solitude is the other side of that uniqueness.

Aquerreta frequently works in series or suites, which allows him to gradually refine the materialisation of a given subject matter and to delve deeper into its essence. One of his favourite motifs since the early-nineties has been the Athlete, which he identifies with the mythical figure of Apollo, and also allows him to express his interest in the representation of the human being. He has approached this motif with different techniques, depicting it sometimes in full body, other times focusing exclusively on the face.

That is the case of Athlete’s Head, a piece following a highly classical structure, in which the artist does away with superfluous detail in order to focus more on the form. Throughout the extensive series to which this work belongs he synthesised the physiognomic features, as if looking, through the execution, for an archetypal image or an underlying canon. The outcome is a hieratic and inexpressive bust of colossal appearance.

The pure lines of this work bring to mind ancient Greek sculpture, suggested by the formal simplicity and the patina of the plaster finish which emulates the smoothness of marble. Its primitivism, forceful geometry and solidity are equally redolent of the influence of Piero della Francesca (1416/17-1492) or Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).