Raven Row will present the work of Asier Mendizabal (born Ordizia,
Basque Country, 1973), in his largest exhibition outside Spain to date.

Mendizabal researches the symbols through which cultures are
represented. He is especially interested in oppositional and
sub-cultures, which are often defined by their adherence to such
symbols. Mendizabal unpicks and re-imagines these, questioning the
relation of cultural identity to cultural representation, and generating
new forms of abstraction.

Mendizabal works with a variety of media, and this exhibition will
include photography, graphics and photomontages, but its strongest
register will be with abstract sculpture. In a new text written to
provide a context for the exhibition, Mendizabal has translated a letter
by Basque artist Jorge Oteiza, addressed (but never sent) to the jury
of a competition organised in 1952 by the ICA in London, to select a
monument to The Unknown Political Prisoner. He reconsiders Oteiza's
argument for a radical abstraction to represent the political in art.

Mendizabal's solo exhibitions include: Asier Mendizabal, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2011; Asier Mendizabal - and/or Culturgest, Lisbon, 2010; and Asier Mendizabal, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2008.  His work was recently included in the Venice Biennale, 2011, and To the Arts, Citizens!, Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal, 2010. He is represented by Carreras Múgica Gallery, Bilbao, Gallery ProjecteSD, Barcelona, and Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London. He lives and works in Bilbao.