Nicolás García Uriburu (December 24, 1937 – June 19, 2016) was an Argentine artist, landscape architect, and ecologist. His work in

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

was aimed at raising consciousness about environmental issues such as water pollution.

Life and work

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

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 (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, 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, he mounted an acrylic display at the

Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery ( in French) was a single-room art gallery named after its Greeks, Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. It was located on 3 :fr:Rue des Beaux-Arts, rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. It was open from 1955 to 1976 and dur ...

, creating an artificial garden that set a new direction for his work towards

environmental activism The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

.MALBA: Nicolás García Uriburu
García Uriburu was invited to the prestigious

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in June 1968, where he dyed

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

's Grand Canal using

fluorescein Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye based on the xanthene tricyclic structural motif, formally belonging to Triarylmethane dye, triarylmethine dyes family. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. ...

, a pigment which turns a bright green when synthesized by

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

s in the water. Between 1968 and 1970, he repeated the feat in New York's

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is 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 Long Island, ...

, the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

, in Paris, and in

, initially at the mouth of polluted southside Riachuelo but carried out in the

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

. A pioneer in what became known as

, he created a montage in pastel colors over photographs of the scenes in 1970, allowing 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 Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

worldwide. In addition to environmental conservation he produced works of art that showcased

humanistic naturalism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of ...

and an antagonism between society and nature, such as ''Unión de Latinoamérica por los ríos'' (Latin America Union for Rivers) and ''No a las fronteras políticas'' (No to Political Borders). García Uriburu applied his fluorescein treatment on such diverse waterways as Paris' Lac de Vincennes (1971), the Trocadéro fountains (1972), the Port of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

(1974). He continued to devote his art to the portrayal of

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

and

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, and was honored with a Grand Prize at the

Tokyo Biennale Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1975. In 1981, he was invited by the

German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Germany in 1990). Th ...

to dye the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

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 Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

, 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 Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

7 exposition to carry out Beuys's project of planting 7,000

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

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 beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

social philosophy Social philosophy is the study and interpretation of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social contexts for political, legal, moral and cultur ...

, ecology and

libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...

. 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 () is a popular shopping street in Buenos Aires CBD, Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913. The Walkability, pedestrian section as such starts at the i ...

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, 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

and organized protests over the unabated degradation of Buenos Aires' industrial Riachuelo waterway, jointly with

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

. He also taught secondary school students and presided over the Foundation, which bears his name, displays his art and houses an extensive

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

museum devoted to

Pre-Columbian art Pre-Columbian art refers to the Visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Americas, visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North America, North, Central America, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European con ...

. 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 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 p ...

(Konex Foundation, Argentina 2002)

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 University of Buenos Aires alumni

Life and work

Prizes and recognition

See also

External links

References