The president of the Parliament of Navarra, Unai Hualde, has opened to the public this Tuesday the exhibition "Bidasoa gazi gozoa. Bidasoa, salty and sweet," made up of 36 oil paintings on canvas by the Navarrese artist Juan Carlos Pikabea.
During his speech, Hualde emphasized the symbolic value of the Bidasoa and Pikabea's ability to, "playing with colors and light," configure a set "impressionistic filled with landscapes and moments" around an "emblematic" river, which has been "a crossroads, a smuggling route, a place of tourism, and the protagonist of traditional and mythological tales," he pointed out.
Juan Carlos Pikabea expressed his gratitude for being able to present his work at the institution's headquarters and described the meaning of this proposal, articulated around a river course that, as Baroja recalled, "meanders in summer and moos like a bull in winter."
According to Pikabea, the exhibition constitutes a "journey through the different towns that the Bidasoa traverses, up to the bay of Txingudi." "It also includes landscapes from the coasts of Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia, and Labourd. The Bidasoa unites the nobility of Navarrese, the elegance of the French, and the generosity of Gipuzkoan. Art is not only inspiration, it is also motivation, and the fact of being able to have this space constitutes a whole stimulus," he stated.
After the official inauguration, the members of the Chamber participated in a guided tour led by Juan Carlos Pikabea himself, who has acted as the curator of the exhibition.
The exhibition, which allows one to contemplate the variety of lights and colors of the Bidasoa riverbank, can be visited in the Atrium of the parliamentary headquarters until October 31, from 9:00 to 20:00 hours, except on Thursdays, when it will remain closed due to the celebration of plenary sessions. On Saturdays, it will open from 11:30 to 14:00 hours.
As on other occasions, this exhibition proposal is part of the Kultur Atrio program, through which since February 2016 the Parliament of Navarra opens its facilities and supports various artistic and outreach initiatives.