Jorge Yázpik | Sculptures + Mixed Media

In over three decades of artistic creation, Jorge Yázpik’s trajectory has stitched a seam between geometric abstraction and minimalism. Embracing dualities, the artist often juxtaposes precisely incised negative spaces against the organic contours of natural materials, the sturdiness of rock or obsidian with a sense of movement and creation of space. At once spiritual, conceptual and architectonic, his stone sculptures echo ancient art forms while simultaneously embracing contemporary concepts.

Central to Yázpik’s oeuvre is an approach to organic materials with a reverence for their natural qualities. The artist’s abstract lexicon varies depending on the material and he works to ‘vitalise’ these natural materials by negotiating labyrinthine negative spaces in the medium’s own intrinsic language, an interplay which is both instinctual and intellectual. He refers to this encounter as ‘clearing a path’ – a method which allows for both fortuitous and accidental occurrences within the varied materials he employs. Yázpik uses volcanic rock, silver, copper, wood, crystal and semi-precious stones and his work is often carried out by ‘taille directe,’ particularly when working with stone. Obsidian is presented in its unpolished majesty, its luster revealed through carefully placed internal cuts, wood is carved into a steal and volcanic stone is surgically deconstructed and reconstructed.

Yázpik revisits, in his own contemporary voice, the indigenous cultural heritage of Mexican and pre-Columbian Atlantean megaliths and other stone artifacts, recovering a volumetric and spatial language possessing both a hermetic silence and enigmatic expressiveness. Mentored by Mexican break away generation artist Manuel Felguérez, a pioneer of Mexican Geometrism, Yázpik also acknowledges Mexican painters Gunther Gerzso and Vicente Rojo as influential. His treatment of negative space advances a discourse introduced by Basque sculptors Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza, Catalan sculptor Julio González and Uruguayan artist Gonzalo Fonseca.

One of Mexico’s leading sculptors, Yázpik has created numerous public sculptures across his country that merge seamlessly with their environments. In their unique abstract language, his site-specific works demand direct engagement with their natural contexts- further highlighting the inherent contrasts that make Jorge Yázpik’s work unique. Curated by Cheryl Numark, Cheryl Numark Fine Art