Miguel Ortiz Berrocal (Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga, 28 September 1933 – Antequera, Málaga, 31 May 2006) was a Spanish figurative and abstract sculptor. He is best known for his puzzle sculptures, which can be disassembled into many abstract pieces. These works are also known for the miniature artworks and jewelry incorporated into or concealed within them, and the fact that some of the sculptures can be reassembled or reconfigured into different arrangements. Berrocal's sculptures span a wide range of physical sizes from monumental outdoor public works, to intricate puzzle sculptures small enough to be worn as pendants, bracelets, or other body ornamentation.

From 1967 to 2004, Berrocal worked in Verona, Italy, and in nearby Negrar, where he worked closely with sculptural foundries to produce his art. His work was exhibited widely throughout Europe and also in North and South America and Japan. In 2004 he returned to his birthplace in Spain, remaining artistically active until his sudden death in 2006. The Fundación Escultor Berrocal (Berrocal Sculpture Foundation) continues to preserve and promote his artwork and legacy, from its headquarters in his hometown of Villanueva de Algaigas in Spain.

Biography

Education

From a very early age, Berrocal demonstrated a talent for art and research. He produced his own toys with recycled material, drawing and painting with colors of his own design. He completed his education in Madrid.

  • Interactive esthetics—The consequence of the possibility of disassembly is that the sculpture is designed to be touched, experimented, "observed with the hands". It is an esthetical appropriation through usage, a process that is more similar to drawing an image than to merely looking at it: when you draw you possess that image more profoundly.
  • Techniques—As a consequence of disassembly and of his interest in sciences and applied arts, the techniques and technologies needed to develop his complex sculptures became very important for Berrocal. The artist invented many techniques and processes, both intellectual and design driven, as well as for prototyping and material construction, in order to transform his ideas into reality.
  • Multiples—The increasing complexity of Berrocal's sculptures and the precision needed to realize them caused the artist to produce them not just as unique pieces, but also in many signed and numbered exemplars. Berrocal, inventing the concept of multiples in sculpture, sought to extend sculptural art’s reach to everybody, just as the painters could do through the reproduction techniques of graphic arts.
  • Project—Because of their complexity, all Berrocal’s sculptures are based upon an enormous quantity of documents and materials - the project - that are fundamental to understanding the uniqueness of his creative process and his polyhedric personality. Each project was elaborated during several years and generated thousands of documents that highlighted a profound symbiosis of art, science and technology. The entire project is itself Berrocal’s authentic work of art. Pierre Restany said: "that preliminary material, the study, is the very essence and structure of the work". The House-Museum provides visitors with a sense of Berrocal's personality and exhibits works by his many artist friends.
  • 2009 Berrocal, Guerreros y Toreros, Plaza Nueva, Seville. Organized by Fundación Escultor Berrocal in collaboration with Fundación Unicaja
  • 2008 Berrocal, Guerreros y Toreros, Plaza de la Constitución, Málaga. Organized by Fundación Escultor Berrocal in collaboration with Fundación Unicaja
  • 2006 Miguel Berrocal, Ferri e bronzi 1955/65, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan
  • 2005 Berrocal un malagueño universal, Centro de Exposiciones, Benalmádena, Málaga
  • 2005 Venice Design Art Gallery, Venice
  • 2004 Berrocal en Cap Roig, esculturas de gran formato, Jardí Botànic de Caixa de Girona, Calella de Palafrugell, Girona
  • 2004 Berrocal, Galeria Barcelona, Barcelona
  • 2003 Berrocal, Sala del Palacio Episcopal, Málaga
  • 2003 Miguel Berrocal, Die Galerie, Frankfurt am Main
  • 2003 Piretti Art Gallery, Knokke
  • 2002 Berrocal, IVAM, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia
  • 2000 Sala de Unicaja, Palacio Italcable, Málaga
  • 2000 Miguel Berrocal, Sculpturen - juwelen - tekeningen, Fondation Veranneman, Kruishoutem
  • 1999 Centro de Arte Moderno Ciudad de Oviedo, Oviedo
  • 1999 Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid
  • 1998 Berrocal Forme et Mouvement, Olympic Museum, Lausanne
  • 1995 Berrocal Sculture e Disegni 1958-1995, Galleria d'Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Verona
  • 1994 Multiple Opus 1962 - 1993, Galerija Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana
  • 1993 Interkolumnie, Museion - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bolzano
  • 1991 Berrocal, Reflex Modern Art Gallery, Amsterdam
  • 1990 Almogávares, Gallery Guy Pieters, Saint-Martens-Latem
  • 1985 Berrocal 1955-1985, Le Botanique, Brussels
  • 1984 Antologica Berrocal (1955–1984), Palacio de Velázquez, Parque del Retiro, Madrid. Organized by Ministerio de Cultura
  • 1984 Almogávares - Desperta Ferro, Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels
  • 1984 Berrocal, Vingt ans de sculptures editées 1964-1984, Artcurial, Paris; 1982 Gallery Gekkoso, Tokyo
  • 1981 Berrocal, sculptures, Arnold Katzen Gallery, New York
  • 1980 Berrocal, Circolo Artistico Palazzo delle Prigioni Vecchie, Venice
  • 1979 Berrocal Multiple Sculptures, The Art Contact Gallery 2, Coconut Grove, Florida
  • 1979 Miguel Berrocal. Obra gráfica y esculturas, Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
  • 1979 Berrocal: à la découverte des constructions intérieures, Artcurial, Paris
  • 1979 Berrocal, sculptures et multiples, Musée de l'Athénée, Geneva
  • 1977 Berrocal, Galería Rubbers, Buenos Aires
  • 1977 Berrocal, nuevas esculturas múltiples, Galería Sen, Madrid
  • 1976 Artcurial, Paris
  • 1976 Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis
  • 1973 Bienal de São Paulo, Pabellón Español, Exposición monográfica, São Paulo
  • 1972 Palazzo delle Prigioni Vecchie, Venice
  • 1972 Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris
  • 1972 Sculptures en or et en argent, Cartier, Munich
  • 1970 Ulmer Museum, Ulm
  • 1968 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
  • 1968 Galerie Krugier, Geneva
  • 1965 Galerie Thomas, Munich
  • 1963 Galerie Ziegler, Zürich
  • 1962 Three sculptors, Berrocal, Ipoustéguy, Müller, Albert Loeb Gallery, New York
  • 1962 Galerie Kriegel, Paris
  • 1960 Galleria Apollinaire, Milan
  • 1958 Galleria La Medusa, Rome
  • 1952 Galería Xagra, Madrid

Selected literature

  • 2009 Fokus Figur Focus Figure 30 Jahre. 30 Year of Die Galerie, Die Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, 2009.
  • 2009 Berrocal Guerreros y Toreros, Fundación Escultor Berrocal, Málaga, 2009 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 2008 Jean-Noël Schifano, Photographies d'Alain Volut, Creator Vesevo, Éditions Gallimard Loisirs, Paris, 2008. The book is dedicated to the outdoor museum Creator Vesevo that was inaugurated in 2005 in the national park of Mount Vesuvius in the south of Italy, and its sculptures. The ten sculptures by the same number of artists were formed out of basalt that had once flown as lava from the crater of the volcano.
  • 2008 Carolin Cros, L'art à ciel ouvert, Commandes publiques en France 1983–2007, Flammarion, Paris, 2008. Caroline Cros, inspector of artistic creation and professor at the Ecole du Louvre, and Laurent Le Bon, conservator at the Centre Pompidou, had been in charge of carrying out the public instructions as members of the Delegation for Plastic Arts.
  • 2008 Fundación Escultor Berrocal, Berrocal Casa Fuerte Bezmiliana, Área de Cultura, Ayuntamiento del Rincón de la Victoria, Málaga, 2008 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 2008 Berrocal Guerreros y Toreros, Fundación Escultor Berrocal, Málaga, 2008 (exhibition catalogue). First publication of the Fundación Escultor Berrocal.
  • 2008 Alain Monvoisin, Dictionnaire International de la Sculpture Moderne & Contemporaine, Editions du Regard, Paris, 2008
  • 2007 Tony Shafrazi, Carter Ratcliff, Robert Rosenblum, Andy Warhol Portraits, Phaidon, 2007. A comprehensive overview of Warhol's iconic portraits of late 20th-century public figures.
  • 2007 Zivile Slektaviciute, Robert Pardo, Robert C. Morgan (Introduction), Luigi Sansone (Introduction), Open Studios, Artefact Pardo Publications, 2007.
  • 2006 Miguel Berrocal, Ferri e bronzi 1955/65, Lorenzelli Arte, Milano, 2006. (exhibition catalogue)
  • 2005 Berrocal un clásico de la modernidad, Ibercaja, Zaragoza, 2005.
  • 2004 Berrocal, Inparce Barcelona, Barcelona, 2004.
  • 2004 Jean-Luc Chalumeau, Claude Mollard, Quand les artistes entrent à l'université, Campus Euro(pe) Art. First traveling exposition of contemporary art in the universities, Scéren, 2004.
  • 2004 Mercedes, "La rivista delle idee in movimento", Numero 3, Hemels Italia Srl, Firenze, 2004. (magazine)
  • 2003 Être ou ne pas Être ... Peintres ou sculpteurs? Les bijoux des plus grands, a.s.b.l. Domaine de Seneffe - Musée de l'orfèvrerie de la Communauté française, 2003.
  • 2003 Jacon Baal-Teshuva, Faces Of The Art World, National Center of Photography of Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg, 2003
  • 2003 Le Ali, Air Dolomiti In-flight Magazine, March 2003, Air Dolomiti, Gorizia, 2003 (magazine) Article: Alberto Fiz, "Sulle Orme di Michelangelo, In the Footsteps of Michelangelo", Artisti stranieri che hanno scelto l'Italia come patria elettiva, Foreign artists who have chosen Italy as their adopted home
  • 2002 Berrocal, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia, 2002. 100 full-page color photographs by Roberto Bigano, theoretical essay by Kosme de Barañano and the art historian Lola Jiménez Blanco, together with literary contributions by Spanish writers and poets José Antonio Muñoz Rojas, Ángela Vallvey and Valentí Puig
  • 2002 Arte, Mensile di Arte, Cultura, Informazione, Numero 349, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori S.p.A., Milano, 2002 (magazine) Article: Beba Marsano, Berrocal e la scultura come alchimia. La classicità, il barocco, la scienza.
  • 2001 Esculturas de la UPV, Esculturas del campus de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, 2001
  • 2001 Quién y por qué, Anales de las Artes Plásticas en el siglo XXI, Año 2000, Edita Arte y Patrimonio, S.A., Madrid, 2001
  • 2000 Berrocal, Sala Unicaja "Italcable", 2000 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 2000 Hans Fonk, Object, Living in Style NO. 17, Hans Fonk Publications bv., Leimuiden, 2000 (magazine)
  • 1999 Miguel Berrocal Sculture e Opere su Carta, Giorgio Ghelfi Editore, Verona, 1999 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1999 Berrocal, Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid, 1999 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1999 Berrocal, Centro de Arte Moderno "Ciudad de Oviedo", 1999 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1998 Berrocal Forme et Mouvement, Olympic Museum, Lausanne, 1998 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1997 Franco Farina, L'anima e le forme, scultori in fonderia, Editrice Compositori, Bologna, 1997 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1996 Miguel Berrocal Sculptures - Multiples, Die Galerie Gesellschaft für Kunsthandel mbH, Offenbach am Main, 1996
  • 1996 Miguel Berrocal Skulpturen - Multiples, Die Galerie Gesellschaft für Kunsthandel mbH, Offenbach am Main, 1996
  • 1995 Berrocal, Sculture e disegni 1958-1995, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Palazzo Forti, Verona, 1995 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1994 Instituto Andaluz de Evaluación Educativa y Formación del Profesorado, Berrocal Escultura en el Aula, Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Educación y Ciencia, Sevilla, 1994
  • 1994 B. de York, Signatures des Artistes du Bronze et fondeurs du XIX ème siècle suivi d'un index de 2500 noms avec références bibliographiques, Editions Collections Livres, Bruxelles, 1994.
  • 1992 Suite Olympic Centennial 50 Grand Peintres 50 Great Painters, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, 1992.
  • 1992 Parque Juan Carlos I, Proyecto y Obra 1990–1992, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Empresa Municipal "Campo de las Naciones", Madrid, 1992.
  • 1989 Jean-Louis Ferrier, Berrocal, Éditions de La Différence, Paris, 1989.
  • 1989 Philippe Sollers, Les Ambassadeurs, 406 photographies de André Morain, Editions de la Différence, Paris, 1989.
  • 1987 Miguel Berrocal Skulpturen, Die Galerie Gesellschaft für Kunsthandel mbH, Offenbach am Main, 1987. Einleitung von Erwin Treu, Beiträge von Klaus-Hartmut Olbricht, Enrico Bellati, Vittorio Sgarbi, Ulrich Willmes.
  • 1986 Spagna 75 anni di protagonisti nell'arte, Electa, Milano, 1986.
  • 1984 Antologica Berrocal (1955–1984), Ediciones El Viso, Madrid, 1984. Published on occasion of the anthological exhibition Antologica Berrocal 1955–1984, organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture at the Palacio de Velázquez, Parque del Retiro, Madrid, Spain from October to December 1984. This monographic catalogue containing more than 5000 reproductions was designed directly by the sculptor and is the catalogue raisonné of all the sculptures produced by the artist up until 1984.
  • 1982 VIVIR HOY®, "Revista venezolana e internacional de decoración, arquitectura y cultura", Editorial Lei & Zanelli C.A., Caracas, 1982 (magazine) Photographs by Walter Ponchia, Article: Berrocal y su maquina para vivir.
  • 1978 Martin Gardner, "Mathematical Games: The sculpture of Miguel Berrocal can be taken apart like an interlocking mechanical puzzle", Scientific American, January 1978
  • 1973 Giuseppe Marchiori, La sculpture de Berrocal, La Conaissance, Bruxelles, 1973.
  • 1971 Gert von der Osten, Horst Keller, "Kunst der sechziger Jahre Sammlung Ludwig" im Wallraf-Richartz Museum Köln, 1971, 5. erweiterte Auflage, Art of the Sixties, 5th revised edition, Köln, 1971 (exhibition catalogue) 1970 Orangerie Multiples, Köln, 1970 Presents its first series of mini sculpture multiples by Berrocal
  • 1969 Katalog 5 Austellungsjahr 1969, Miguel Berrocal, Kestner-Gesellshaft, Hannover, 1969 (exhibition catalogue)
  • 1969 Gert von der Osten, Horst Keller, Kunst der sechziger Jahre. im Wallraf-Richartz Museum Köln. 2. erweiterte Auflage, Art of the Sixties, 2nd revised edition, Köln, 1969.
  • 1969 Claude Pélieu, ill. Miguel Berrocal, Ce que dit la Bouche d'ombre dans le bronze-étoile d'une tête, Édition Le Soleil Noir, Paris, 1969 1968 Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana, Suplemento Annual, 1963–1964, Espasa-Calpe, S.A., Madrid, 1968
  • 1958 Leonardo Sinisgalli, Civiltà delle Macchine, Mayo-Agosto 1958, Roma (magazine).

See also

  • Mechanical puzzle

References

  • Berrocal's official website