Bilbo MMX is a large-format panoramic work (125 x 720 cm) created for the 2010 Shanghai Universal Exhibition. Note the main architectural landmarks past, present and future of the city with the estuary as the backbone of its transformation. In this hyper realistic painting, the artist paints every detail in an almost photographic view of the Villa, from a spot between Artxanda and Arangoiti. It includes some of the most representative symbols of Bilbao’s contemporary architecture, such as the Iberdrola Tower and the Guggenheim Museum, and other emblematic spots like the Basilica of Begoña and the San Mamés Stadium.
In coming months, visitors to the Itsasmuseum will find ten sketches of this work by Lazkano lent by the artist, revealing the creative process to enrich the experience and illustrate the complex work process.
After hanging for ten years at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, Bilbo MMX, owned by the City Council of Bilbao, is now in the Itsasmuseum to enrich the permanent exhibition. It is important not only as a work of art but because of its consistency with the museum discourse. It hangs alongside the replica of the felucca of the Consulate of Bilbao – an institution established in 1511, whose vessel was used by the authorities to travel the estuary of Bilbao – and Piel de Luz – an art installation by sculptor Esther Pizarro that explores the historical events of recent years and the visual transformation of the city, also exhibited in Shanghai–.
To spread the word about the maritime culture of Biscay, Itsasmuseum reveals the maritime universe that extends from the estuary of Bilbao to the Gulf of Biscay. The historical, social and economic relevance of the Bilbao estuary is addressed in more than one exhibition area as something that connects us with the coast of Biscay as a witness to the birth of Bilbao, first the port and then the Villa. It is a leap where the navigability of the estuary was especially decisive to trade and the opening of the world through the sea, allowing unprecedented progress and development in the territory. This phase, which ended in the eighties with an unprecedented industrial crisis, gave way to a new, more avant-garde city concept and a service, culture and knowledge-based economy. A masterful work by Lazkano, now on show at Itsasmuseum.