Iñaki Olazabal - expanding the frontiers of Basque sculpture

May 19, 2025

In choosing cheap, unpretentious and easily processed zinc sheets as his preferred artistic medium, Iñaki Olazabal made his own specific contribution to expanding the boundaries of Basque sculpture over the past 40 years.

During an artistic career spanning more than four decades, Olazabal, who died earlier this month in San Sebastián at age 65, after a long illness, exhibited his work throughout the Basque Country and on a wider stage.

He began his artistic career in 1983 as a student in the associative workshop led by sculptor Xabier Laka at Sorabilla in Andoain, Gipuzkoa, where he was born in 1959. Later, he studied for three years at the art academy of Düsseldorf, Germany, before returning to the Basque Country.

In Iparralde, he participated in the summer exhibitions of cultural association Haize Berri in Ostabat and the Xiru festival in Xiberoa. He also showed his work in Saint Jean Pied de Port as a founding meber.of Itzal aktiboa. Other exhibitions followed, notably at the museum of Guéthary and the Ospitalea cultural centre in Irissarry.

His choice of zinc as an artistic medium was inspired by the zinc roofs of Paris, where he made frequent visits in the 1980s and 1990s. While his sculptures echo the political and societal tensions that continue to mark the Basque Country, Inaki insisted on the essential role of the spectator in completing and transmitting their message.

Today, several of his sculptures form part of Itzal aktiboa’s permanent collection. We are proud to have had the privilege of working closely on a number of projects with this exceptional artist. May he rest in peace!