Miguel Ortiz Berrocal

MIGUEL ORTIZ BERROCAL (Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga, 1933 - Antequera, Málaga, 2006).
"Micro Maria".
Bronze sculpture.
Measurements: 6 x 4 x 3 cm (with base).
Inspired by the main creative forces of the first half of 1900, Berrocal looked for his own artistic path. He was inspired by science and created works based on mathematical, physical and scientific principles. He also developed the concept of "dismountability", understood as the process of searching for the interior forms of volumes, which implies that sculptures are composed of elements that must be assembled and disassembled to penetrate their invisible space.
Berrocal began his training at the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid, as a student of Ángel Ferrant. He then went on to the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, where he was a disciple of Ramón Stolz. He complemented his training with his work as a draftsman in the studio of the architect Casto Fernández Shaw and as an assistant to several architects in Rome between 1952 and 1954. During his stay in Paris, in 1955, he finally decided to devote himself to sculpture. His early works show the influence of Chillida, while denoting his preference for articulated and detachable forms in bronze. The difficulty involved in making each of his sculptures motivated his decision to make them in series. With this idea in mind, he produces two hundred copies of the sculpture "Maria de la O", for which he received the prize for sculpture at the Paris Biennale and which was later acquired by the MOMA in New York. In 1966 he settled permanently in Verona, and since 1968 he has alternated his work between monumental and small-format works. He founded the Multicétera Society together with several gallery owners, the first industry of small sculptures. He has exhibited in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United States, received the gold medal of the Bronze of Padua, the grand prize of honor at the Biennale of Brazil, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.