Nicolás García Uriburu
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Nicolás García Uriburu (December 24, 1937 – June 19, 2016) was an Argentine contemporary artist, landscape architect, and ecologist. His work in land art was aimed at raising consciousness about environmental issues such as water pollution.


Life and work

Born in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in 1937, García Uriburu began painting at an early age and, in 1954, secured his first exhibition at the local Müller Gallery. He enrolled at the
University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...
, where he received a degree in architecture, and relocated to Paris with his wife, Blanca Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, in 1965. He would later father a child named "Azul" with Blanca. His ''Three Graces'', a sculpture in the pop art style, earned him a Grand Prize at the National Sculpture Salon in 1968. Venturing into
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
, he mounted an
acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...
display at the
Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery (''Galerie Iris Clert'' in French) was an art gallery named after its Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. The single-room gallery The Iris Clert Gallery (Galerie'' Iris Clert'' in French) was an art gallery named after its ...
, creating an artificial garden that set a new direction for García Uriburu's work towards
environmental activism The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists ad ...
.MALBA: Nicolás García Uriburu
He was invited to the prestigious
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in June 1968, where García Uriburu dyed
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
's Grand Canal using
fluorescein Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye based on the xanthene tricyclic structural motif, formally belonging to triarylmethine dyes family. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used ...
, a pigment which turns a bright green when synthesized by
microorganism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s in the water. Between 1968 and 1970, he repeated the feat in New York's
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
, the Seine, in Paris, and in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, initially at the mouth of polluted southside Riachuelo but was carried out in the
Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...
instead. A pioneer in what became known as land art, he created a montage in pastel colors over photographs of the scenes in 1970, allowing the unlimited photographic reproduction of the work for the sake of raising awareness of worsening
water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...
, worldwide. In addition to environmental conservation he also produced works of art that showcased humanistic naturalism and an antagonism between society and nature, such as: ''Unión de Latinoamérica por los ríos , and No a las fronteras políticas ''. García Uriburu applied his fluorescein treatment on such diverse waterways as Paris' Lac de Vincennes (1971), the
Trocadéro The Trocadéro (), site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It is also the name of the 1878 palace which was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Palai ...
fountains (1972), the Port of
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
(1974) and the Port of Antwerp (1974). He continued to devote his art to the portrayal of endangered species and
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
, and was honored with a Grand Prize at the Tokyo Biennale in 1975. In 1981, he was invited by the
German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...
to dye the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
during a national day of protest called "Wasserfest." Here he was approached by
Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...
, who had been a co-founder of the Green Party, and asked if he could collaborate. The two artists would go on to collaborate the following year at the Kassel Documenta 7 exposition to carry out Beuys's project of planting 7,000
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s. He and Beuys shared similar views on
Humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...
,
social philosophy Social philosophy examines questions about the foundations of social institutions, social behavior, and interpretations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social ...
, ecology and libertarianism. García Uriburu returned to Buenos Aires in 1982, following which he planted 50,000 trees. Remaining active in the city's tree-planting effort, he turned to portrait art and in 1993, was invited to the renowned Ruth Benzacar Gallery on
Florida Street Florida Street ( es, Calle Florida) is a popular shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913. The pedestrian section as such starts at the intersection ...
to present ''Utopía del Sur'' (''Southern Utopia''), a display devoted to his cause. During the final years while still active in his cause in Argentina, García Uriburu directed tree-planting efforts in neighboring
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
and organized protests over the unabated degradation of Buenos Aires' industrial Riachuelo waterway, jointly with Greenpeace. He also taught secondary school students and presided over the Foundation; which bears his name, displays his art and houses an extensive
ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...
museum devoted to
Pre-Columbian art Pre-Columbian art refers to the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European conquests starting in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era c ...
. In 2010, Nicolás Uriburu received the Creative Careers Award from the Center for Creativity Economics of Universidad del CEMA. "It is very difficult to make a true contribution to modern art, which changes the art we see and the way we think about it. It is also very difficult to make a true contribution to raising awareness of social problems such as the destruction of the environment. When someone does both, with elegance and humility, it is an extraordinary achievement," David Galenson, Academic Director of the Center for Creativity Economics, said on the occasion. Elias, Julio, 201
"Nicolas Uriburu, Artista del Sur"
Clarin.com.
In 2017, García Uriburu was again invited to the Venice Biennale, this time, as part of the main exhibition, titled ''VIVA ARTE VIVA''.


Prizes and recognition

Uriburu has earned a number of prizes both in his native Argentina and abroad: *Gran Premio de Pintura Nacional (National Grand prize in Painting, Argentina 1968) *Prix Lefranc (Paris, 1968) *1st place Tokyo Biennial (Tokyo, 1975) *Premio Braque (Buenos Aires, 1993) *Primer Premio Otium Ecología (Buenos Aires, 1993) *Fondo Nacional de las Artes’ Premio a la Trayectoria (National Fund for the Arts: Career achievement award, Argentina 2000) *2010, Premio Carreras Creativas, Centro de Economía de la Creatividad, Universidad del CEMA, Buenos Aires. *Platinum
Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...
(Konex Foundation, Argentina 2002)


See also

* Land art *
Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...
*
Conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...


External links


Nicolas Uriburu Foundation


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Uriburu, Nicolas 1937 births 2016 deaths Argentine contemporary artists Argentine painters Argentine male painters Argentine portrait painters Argentine educators Architects from Buenos Aires Argentine landscape architects Argentine ecologists Argentine environmentalists Argentine people of Spanish descent Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery