Irati Retolaza
Tanto-Tan-poco (So much–So little)

As part of the activities of OPEN Buenos Aires: International Encounter of Emerging Printmakers, we received Irati Retolaza for a Production Residency in our workshop. Irati is a Basque artist dedicated to drawing and the practice of engraving in expanded printmaking, who today is in charge of the Workshop for Biofabrication and Printing on Bioplastics at the Basque bioDesign Center, a design and development centre for the fashion industry, regenerative economy and biodesign, located 15 minutes from Bilbao, Basque Country. In addition to her Production Residency, Irati participated in the Open Buenos Aires as a panelist at the panel on contemporary printmaking, was part of the event’s activities and presented the BDC residency award to local artist Julián Pesce.

Her artistic practice is linked, through drawing and graphics, to memory and a constant review of identity, where the environment and experience take on special interest. Irati works in a place where little is familiar and everything attracts attention, which brings a fresh air to her work, which lately is limited to small-format drypoint prints with an open narrative, which end up becoming artist books.

Graduated in Art from the UPV, she complements her training in the Master’s of Graphic Work at the CIEC Foundation, as well as seminars and courses in Contemporary and Graphic Art. Her work has been selected in several contests and competitions such as the I Castilla-La Mancha International Engraving Prize, the XIII Pedro Vivanco Engraving and Wine Award, the XXI San Lorenzo del Escorial Engraving Prize, the Basquegraphia New York 2020 call , the Vth Edition of the Open Portfolio, the FIG Bilbao (International Festival of Engraving and Art on Paper) or the XII Atlante Engraving Prize. She has participated in several national and international traveling exhibitions such as the Open Portfolio exhibition, Memento Mori (International Contemporary Printmaking Project) or Sin Rumbo Fijo (Contemporary Graphic Essays). She currently combines her work as an artist and teaching, organizing and giving workshops on different graphic techniques and as a workshop technician at the BBC’s Print Lab (Basque Biodesign Center).