Judas Arrieta

JUDAS ARRIETA (Hondarribia, 1971).
"Daijoubu".
Watercolor, acrylic and felt-tip pen on handmade paper.
Certificate of authenticity attached.
Measurements: 30 x 21 cm.

Judas Arrieta studied fine arts at the University of the Basque Country, doing an Erasmus at the Ècole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. In 2006 he traveled to Beijing to develop a residency program, and since then he lives between the Chinese capital and Hondarribia. In China he created the residency scholarship program for Basque artists in China GOAZEN TXINARA!, and curated more than 20 exhibitions of Basque artists in the Asian country. He has held numerous solo exhibitions. We mention: ADN Gallery Barcelona 2004, 2008; Imagine Gallery, Beijing 2006; Galeria Estampa, Madrid 2006, 2010; Space 114, Marugame (Japan, 2007); Shoreman Art Gallery, Beijing 2007; Galeria Arteko, San Sebastian 2009; White Suite. Lan Club, Beijing; Singapore Toy, 2010; Tabacalera, Madrid 2010; Korjjamo Galeria, Helsinki 2011; AJG Contemporary Art Gallery, Sevilla 2012; Centre de Cultura Contemporánia, Valencia 2013. She has participated in important group exhibitions: MUNA, Museum of no art, Finland 2014; Crypte de Sainte-Eugenie, Biarritz 2013; Barrié Foundation, Vigo 2013; Aranburu Jauregia, Tolosa 2013; SWAB Barcelona 2012; Festival SOS4.8, Murcia 2011; 25 years of Muestra de Arte INJUVE, Madrid 2010; Korjaamo Gallery, Helsinki 2010; ARCO 2010; ART MADRID 10; Scola Gallery, Beijing 2010; Estampa Art Fair, Madrid 2009; Beijing Center for the Arts (BCA), Beijing ... He is represented in prestigious collections: Guggenheim Bilbao; Institution of Chinart Museum, Beijing; ARTIUM-Basque Museum Center of Contemporary Art, Vitoria-Gasteiz; MIDE-International Museum of Electrography, Cuenca; UNED-National University of Distance Education, Madrid; INJUVE, Madrid; Casa de Asia, Barcelona; Cajamadrid, Madrid; Absolut Vodka, China, among others. In Judas Arrieta's paintings and illustrations, dense webs of signs unfold like spider webs that trap us through the fusion of Asian and Western imagery, the mixture of drippings with comic drawings, graffiti and vignettes, affiches and Japanese ideograms. His plastic procedure in the form of a palimpsest translates the emotional short-circuit between multiple layers of memories linked to the television and filmic imaginary of childhood, an age in which the lived and the dreamed, fantasy and reality, become entangled. Cross-border artist, abducted by manga and anime but intoxicated by Yankee cathodic reminiscences, emigrated to Beijing but without cutting his Basque roots, with a punk and naïff spirit at the same time, his work expresses the chaotic essence of memory and the stateless feeling he shares with his admired heroes.