Ignacio Goitia, the rebellious classicist

“I have always stood up to impositions, no matter where they may come from. When faced with imposition, let me be free to express my own personality,” he points out.

Goitia is rebellious. A few years ago he had an accident while riding his motorbike. He spent weeks in hospital. When he was discharged from hospital, he decided to buy a new motorbike, bigger and more powerful than the one he had crashed on. He laughs out loud recalling it. The spirit of James Dean in Lord Byron’s clothes.

“The avant-gardes became today’s academicism,” said he about painting. He often prefers to paint on a larger scale. Within them, he sets impressive architectures from classical Rome or Greece, or perhaps even from Renaissance. Maybe there’s Miami’s skyline on the other side of the balustrades, or a relaxed giraffe, or an American traffic policeman. “I paint architectures that speak of power. And I’m interested in manifesting the presence of the past in the present”.

After graduating in Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) , he obtained a doctorate in Art History and furthered his studies in Florence, Paris and Havana. He is a frequent traveller. It was his first long family trips as a child that would determine his future: Italy driving, Florence, the Uffizi, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Rome. Then France, Paris, the Louvre, the gallery for the large-scale works of Louis David, Delacroix and Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa.

Before these works, it was clear to him what he would devote himself to. Awards and numerous exhibitions prove that he got it right.

“My paintings are all different. I have changed topics and models. But I have no intention of going abstract or conceptual”, he warns.

What he does aim to do is to open a space for selling his creations to have as a complement to his online shop.

During the pandemic he brought his creativity to silk scarves. He found a workshop in Italy that offered him quality materials, silk and the desired printing techniques. Since then, the scarves have accompanied his exhibitions. And they remain a success.

This spring he will open an innovative shop in a former jewellery shop in the heart of the city centre, on the corner with Achúcarro and Iparraguirre, where he will bilbon.biz be offering scarves, other objects, a small showroom and other surprising things. “It’s not an exhibition hall,” he says.

It will certainly be worth the visit.

“I have learned a lot from Bilbao’s eclecticism”

“I have a wonderful relationship with Bilbao. I love it. I’ve learned a lot from observing the eclecticism of its buildings: Bilbao’s eclectic architecture transports me elsewhere,” he confesses.

His studio is located in Muelle de Marzana, so “I used to go out a lot in Bilbao La Vieja”. Now he often goes to bars like ‘La Revoltosa’, in Particular de Estraunza, or ‘La Gavilla’, in Colón de Larreátegui.

He likes to walk around Doña Casilda Park. He also likes to go for short walks in Markina. Or in Mundaka, where he spent his summer holidays as a child.

If you come across a huge BMW 1150 RT, it might be Ignacio Goitia, classicist and rebellious painter.