Darío Urzay

(Bilbao, 1958)

Author's artworks
20th-21st Century. Spanish

Born on 13 December 1958 in Bilbao, Urzay trained at the School of Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country from 1977 to 1982. In 1981 the Spanish Ministry of Culture granted him a research scholarship for the visual arts to study in Madrid. The following year, he obtained a grant from the government of the Basque Country to exhibit his work.

In 1983 he began to work as a lecturer at the School of Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country, where he taught for five years. In that same year he had his first solo exhibition, organised by Aula de Cultura of Caja de Ahorros Municipal de Bilbao, and he also exhibited at Galerie Étienne de Causans in Paris. Following several years of intense exhibition activity, in 1988 he was chosen to take part at the IV Internationale Triennale der Zeichnung, at the Kunsthalle Nuremberg.

Urzay’s initial output may be framed within hyperrealism. A sojourn in London (1988-89 thanks to a scholarship from the Delfina Studios Trust, currently Delfina Foundation) led to a shift towards a type of work that may be ascribed to
. After that short experience in London he travelled to New York, also with the help of the government of the Basque Country. It was then when Urzay began his series of double paintings. After returning to Spain he exhibited in Valencia, Santander, Bilbao and Madrid. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and other institutions and collections worldwide, started to acquire his works. In 1991 a grant from Banesto allowed him to return to New York where, in 1992, he took part in a group exhibition at the Spanish Institute. One year later, in 1993, he showed his works in his first solo exhibition in New York.

But it was in 1995 when his career really took off. His works went on display in many renowned foundations, museums and galleries in Spain and abroad which, together with important commissions and new grants and scholarships allowed the artist to devote himself fully to art creation.

In 2005, Urzay exhibited at the 2nd Beijing Biennale, where he won the Excellent Work award. In that same year he also won Spain’s National Graphic Art Award. His works are held in important museums, including Museo Guggenheim and Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid; Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid; and ARTIUM in Vitoria.