Broken sphere

In 1976 the teacher, sculptor and theorist Jorge Oteiza defined in his Letter to the Navarrese sculptor: “[the work of Faustino Aizkorbe] wants the feeling that forms float, expand, converge, become illuminated, turn off, burst.” And he wants it in a real space.”
Since then, Aizkorbe has remained faithful to himself tirelessly producing; investigating forms, compositions and materials. And he has thus consolidated his own personality, becoming one of the most international of Navarrese sculptors. I take this opportunity to highlight his generosity in contributing the piece Esfera partida (Split sphere) to the exhibition entitled Sculptors on the Campus of the Public University of Navarre. The piece was subsequently acquired by the University.
The sculpture consists of two components: a parallelepiped and, floating above it, the ‘split sphere’. Both elements have no finite end. Rather, they intersect in infinite combinations of sympathetic harmonies and opposing contrasts.
The image of the sphere makes sculptors uneasy because it is simple and perfect. It is the geometric shape that has always dominated the focus of nature from the beginning, given the preference of the mind for simplicity. And it continues to be applied to such important configurations in the physical world as the solar system or the atomic model.
Aizkorbe uses this significant form as plastic element. He explores its possibilities, breaks the figure, opens it, projects and encloses the surroundings inside. He is interested in the relationship between space and mass and in the meaning of space, which he considers an absolutely sculpturesque element, a material substance.
In his Cosmology, Dante relates the spheres of the planets to the Seven Liberal Arts. Aizkorbe, with this work, creates an artistic exponent using the art of sculpture.
Josep Blasco i Canet