Irati Retolaza

Born in Bilbao in 1996.

He graduated in Arts from UPV/EHU and is a graduate in Arts. master in Graphic Work from the Centro Internacional de la Estampa Contemporánea – CIEC. He also complemented his training with several seminars on contemporary and graphic art at the BilbaoArte Foundation.

“Your artistic practice is evolving. linked, through drawing and graphics, to the memory and a constant review of identity, where the environment and experience take on special interest. Currently his work is expressed in small format drypoint prints and open narrative” (ace project, Argentina).

Irati combines his artistic work with holding workshops in which he presents and teaches different engraving techniques, namely at the Basque Design Center – development center for the fashion industry, regenerative economy and biodesign, and as a workshop technician in the Print Lab of the same center.

 His work has been selected several times in competitions such as: XVII Jesús Núñez International Graphic Art Prize; Castilla-La Mancha International Engraving Prize; XIII Pedro Vivanco Engraving and Wine Prize and XXII San Lorenzo de el Escorial Engraving Prize, where he received an Honorable Mention. He has participated in several national and international exhibitions as a “Reference” in the 9th; Sofia Engraving Triennial; the III Oviedo Professional Art Week; “The Earth wants to be the Sky”, Arrieta; Basquegraphia. Luso-Vasco Dialogues in Lisbon; Memento Mori – International Contemporary Printmaking Project, in Prague, Barcelona, ​​Mexico City and Serbia; “Sem Rumo Fixo”, Essays on Contemporary Engraving.

In 2023, together with three other artists from the graphic field, he formed the collective “White Wally”, with which he participated in the XII edition of FIG Bilbao. Received the Residency Award promoted by the CPS, within the scope of the latest FIG Bilbao edition.

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