Out in the Open

​An umbrella is, in itself, a curious paradox; for although we think we are sheltered, it only protects us from the rain and yet we always end up wet. The umbrella we beg for when it starts to rain is of no use to us when the storm breaks. It simply makes us feel covered in the open. Following the assassination of Jose Luis López de Lacalle at the hands of ETA, Jose Ibarrola would create his series ‘Memory and Umbrellas’ to speak about objects, images, remembrance, absence, emotions, metaphors, and tribute. Painting, for him, is an exercise of memory.