Urzay, Darío

Born on December 13.

Enrolls in the faculty of fine arts at the Universidad del País Vasco in Leioa, where he will earn a degree in 1982. Participates in the Certamen de Arte Vasco Navarro, organized by the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao.

Together with other artists, organizes the exhibition Minimalismo y nueva figuración at the Caja Laboral- Euskadiko Kutxa in Vitoria, Spain.

Receives a creative grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Takes part in Arteder 81.

Urzay’s work is featured in Artistas vascos entre el realismo y la figuración, 1970-1982 at the Museo Municipal in Madrid. Wins the prize for painting at the III Bienal de Artes Plásticas de Vitoria in Vitoria, Spain. Receives a grant from the Basque government.

Has his first solo exhibition at the Aula de Cultura de la Caja de Ahorros Municipal in Bilbao. Urzay’s work is exhibited at Galerie Étienne de Causans in Paris. Wins first prize for painting at Gure Artea 1983 contest, sponsored by the Basque government. Accepts a teaching post in the faculty of fine arts at the Universidad del País Vasco, a position he will hold for five years.

Takes part in the Salon de Montrouge in Paris.

Urzay’s work is featured in Pintura vasca contemporánea,1910-1985 at the Sala de Exposiciones de la Caja de Ahorros Provincial de Guipúzcoa in San Sebastián, Spain.

Invited to spend a year as an artist-in-residence at Delfina Studios in London, where his work undergoes a marked change, clearly influenced by the work of Gerhard Richter. Exhibits at Galería Gamarra y Garrigues in Madrid and Galería Windsor Kulturgintza in Bilbao. Takes part in the IV Internationale Triennale der Zeichung in Nuremberg. Urzay’s work is featured in Pintura española: la generación de los 80 at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava in Vitoria, Spain; the exhibition travels to several cities in South America.

Exhibits at Riverside Studios in London and once again at Galería Gamarra y Garrigues in Madrid. Moves to New York on a grant provided by the Basque government. 1990 Presents his work at Galería Bretón in Valencia, Spain.

Exhibits at Galería Fernando Silió in Santander, Spain. Urzay’s work is included in Pintores vascos ante el gran formato, 1886-1991 at the Sala Rekalde in Bilbao and in Confrontaciones: arte último británico y español at the Palacio de Velázquez, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Receives a grant from Fundación Cultural Banesto.

Exhibits at Galería Miguel Marcos in Saragossa, Spain, and again at Galería Gamarra y Garrigues in Madrid and Galería Windsor Kulturgintza in Bilbao. Participates in America Discovers Spain at the Spanish Institute of New York.

Has his first solo exhibition in New York, at Pamela Auchincloss Gallery. His work is also shown at Galería Fernando Alcolea in Barcelona. Urzay’s work is included in a group exhibition of Spanish painting at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City.

Returns to Bilbao. Exhibits works from the Camerastrokes series, made up of Polaroid photographs, at Galería Arteclio in Pamplona and the Photomuseum in Zarautz, Spain.

Exhibits at Galería Elba Benítez in Madrid, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery in New York, and In Situ Gallery in Aalst, Belgium. Urzay’s work is included in Transatlántica: The America- Europa non representativa at the Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero in Caracas, Venezuela.

Urzay’s work is displayed at Galerie Kaj Forsblom in Helsinki. His work is also featured in Nuevas abstracciones at the Palacio de Velázquez, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, which travels afterwards to the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany. Takes part in a group exhibition at Lelong Gallery in New York.

Returns to New York on a grant from the Fundación Marcelino Botín. An exhibition of Urzay’s drawings is shown at the Sala de Exposiciones of the Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa in Bilbao. Exhibits at the Sala América of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava in Vitoria, Spain, Galería Elba Benítez in Madrid, Galeria Senda in Barcelona, and Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona in Barcelona. His work is included in The Guggenheim Museums and the Art of This Century, the inaugural exhibition of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Urzay’s work features in Spanish and Basque Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; in Surfacing: Contemporary Drawing at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London; and in Painting Language at LA Louver in Los Angeles. He also presents his work at the Gemeenschapscentrum De Markten in Brussels.

Urzay’s work is also shown at Galerie Xippas in Paris, at Espacio Caja in Burgos, Spain, at Galeria Senda in Barcelona, Spain, and in Cosmos. Del romanticismo a la vanguardia, 1801-2001 at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.

Exhibits work from the previous three years at the Sala Rekalde in Bilbao. Exhibits Imágenes Yuxtapuestas at the Museo Municipal de Málaga in Málaga, Spain, and at Galería Elba Benítez in Madrid.

Takes part in the exhibition Gaur, hemen, orain at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. Exhibits at Galería Visor in Valencia, Spain, and again at Galerie Xippas in Paris. His work also features in Imágenes de la noche en el arte español: 1981-2001 at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente in Segovia, Spain.

Urzay’s work is featured in The Century of Picasso: 20th-century Spanish Art at the National Gallery in Athens; in Big Sur. Neue Spanische Kunst, at the Hamburger Bahnhof- Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin; and in Arte en España, 1977-2002. Colección del Museo Patio Herreriano de Valladolid at the Sala de Exposiciones Manege in Moscow.

His work is shown at Christian Dam Galleries in Oslo and Galería Distrito Cu4tro in Madrid. Works on paper by Urzay are shown at Galería Estiarte in Madrid.

The Espai Quatre del Cassal Solleric in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, presents an exhibition of Urzay’s work entitled Into the Frame . His work also features in Monocromos, de Malevich al presente at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Commissioned by the Athletic Club de Bilbao football team, designs a T-shirt to be worn at the team’s European matches. It is officially registered with the Union of European Football Associations.

Receives the Premio Nacional de Artes Gráficas in Madrid for the work done in 2004. Takes part in the Second Beijing Biennale, where he is awarded second prize. Exhibits at Galería Tomás March in Valencia, Spain.

Urzay’s work is featured in an exhibition for the Premio Nacional de Artes Gráficas 2005 at the Calcografía Nacional, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid and in Tejidos: Óseos, pictóricos, arquitectónicos at the Museo de Teruel in Teruel, Spain, and La Casa Encendida in Madrid. Has a solo exhibition at the Sala Amós Salvador in Logroño, Spain.

Creates the permanent installation Mirador distante (tan cerca), commissioned by the Basque parliament. Creates a mural for the Museo Würth La Rioja in Agoncillo, Spain. Work by Urzay is included in the exhibitions Unknowns: Mapping Contemporary Basque Art at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Pasaje 42º 35′ 27” N / 2º 57′ 24” W at Galería Estiarte in Madrid.

Takes part in Goggel på jorden at Galleri Charlotte Lund in Stockholm.

Teaches a workshop titled “Pasajes cruzados” at the Aula de Cultura de Caja Mediterráneo in Alicante, Spain.

Two of the artist’s pieces are featured in Proyecto Tierra , the inaugural exhibition at the AlhóndigaBilbao cultural center. His work is included in the exhibition El retorno de lo imaginario. Realismos entre XIX y XXI at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

One man show titled Phaistos on display at Galería Pilar Serra, Madrid. His work is included in the group exhibition Fiction and Reality: Spanish Art of the 21st Century in the Contemporary Art Collection of Museo Patio Herreriano at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow.

Galería Maior in Pollença, Mallorca (Spain), holds a solo exhibition dedicated to Urzay.
His work is included in Juegos de lenguaje. Una introducción al arte de nuestro tiempo , a group exhibition at Centro de Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear in Cáceres (Spain).

Takes part in Public Treasure. Artium Collection, a group exhibition at Artium Vitoria-Gasteiz.
His work is part of Diálogos. Colección DKV, an exhibition at Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid (Spain).

The exhibitions Entre el suelo y la pared and Construyendo en las ruinas are held in Galería Juan Silió in Santander and Galería Pilar Serra in Madrid, respectively.
En una (Microverso I) fracción (1997) and En una (Microverso II) fracción (1997) are included in the exhibition Selections from the Collection of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao IV.
His work is on show at Reproductivitat 1.2. Fotografía contemporánea española, held in EsBaluard in Palma de Mallorca (Spain).
His work is included in the group exhibitions The Translucent Skin – Works in the Iberdrola Art Collection, held at Iberdrola Tower in Bilbao, which then travels to Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, and El arte del coleccionista, housed in Sala Municipal de la Lonja in Alicante, both in Spain.
Participates in the group exhibition La imagen fantástica at Sala Kubo-Kutxa Aretoa in Donostia/San Sebastián.

Recent works by Urzay are on show as part of En una fracción (Frost Frames), at Galería Pilar Serra in Madrid.
The Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) organizes the exhibition En una fracción, housed in Palacete del Embarcadero in Santander (Spain).

Darío Urzay. Pinturas opens at Galería Juan Silió in Santander (Spain).
En una fracción (Frost Frames) shows his latest works at Galería Maior in Pollença, Mallorca (Spain).