IIW welded art exhibition, 2021

RICARD MIRA (Spain)

Ricard Mira was born in 1952. He learned to weld while working at the Derbi motorcycle company, where later on he became a fitter in its Racing Department at a time when Derbi racers won the World Championship repeatedly. Creating welded art serves him as a complementary therapy for overcoming schizophrenia.

Although he also uses other materials, he makes most of his sculptures by recycling iron scrap from the metalworking industry at Martorelles (near Barcelona, Catalonia), where he lives and works. He often uses Corten steel too, especially for public sculptures, since it gives them an interesting finish. He was named a Master Sculptor by the Government of Catalonia in 2014 and is a member of ICRE (Catalan Institute for Research in Sculpture).

Contact info Website: www.ricardmira.com • Instagram: ricardmira

Exhibit “REBALANCING 2017” "Rebalancing 2017" is part of a private collection and featured in the 15th ICRE group exhibition at the Clarà Library in Barcelona (2019), as well as in La Pobla de Segur (2017). Ricard crafted this welded artwork in 2017 during a psychotic episode in schizophrenia. In fact he regained his mental balance by making it, hence its name. It is a life-size (35x55x30 cm) bust of one of his models, Mercè Tuxuera, who usually wears a bob haircut. This sculpture is a good example of the technique he likes best: cold forging, that is, cutting, bending, welding and polishing iron. Many people wonder whether the shiny skin and hair are made of stainless steel, but they are actually just polished Metal Active Gas (MAG)welded steel plates. The way this sculpture is built was well described by art historian Tania Alba with the following words: "The expressiveness of Ricard Mira's sculptures stems very much from his combination of fullness and emptiness". In this he follows the style of sculptor Pau Gargallo, a pioneer of iron sculptures.

Dimensions Life size bust

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