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Fernando and Vicente Roscubas are two resistance members. Ever since the seventies their art contribution has grown on steadly. In the beginning that work was like a gust of fresh air blowing away old traditions and bringing in a new view, opener, fresher and more playful and ludic.

Compromise went further. Having reached, not only art as something independent, but also the political scene of the time, they are two of those few who did not evade social problems. This perspective could be seen as a bitter manifestation against commonplaces and also as a bold bet on humour and irony not lacking of criticism. By putting aside the negativity of anti-art they carried out, their task without sparing work or pain; from their devotion and sacrifice there was to come out a lot of new changes and innovations.

They are so obsessed by their daily work that they could not live too far from their studio, their headquarters for parallel development of life and work.

Before long, new generations of young artists from the nearby faculty of Beaux-Arts in Basque Country, -in the north of Spain and south of France .- began visiting their studio and it was one of the few referents which they took into account. Their real contribution to the formation and development of art in the eighties is something quite forgotten nowadays.

On the occasion on Metronom´s inaugural exhibition in 1980, they appeared at the head of young Basque artists being theirs an example of non-fading liveliness, ever-changing and always questioning about itself. Nevertheless there must not only be appreciated the restlessness and plastic freshness, but also the understanding of the work of art as a kind of relationship with the outside world and a way of knowledge too.

From the very beginning and after an initial consolidation, which was achieved through representative transcription of old works from the past, painted now with slight little variants, they put forward new creative options whose singularity was stablished by means of some new and original vehicles still unknown in the Basque Country.

Opposing the aesthetic zeal and leading traditionalist approaches, successively they brought together expressionist distortion, constructive rigor, conceptual affiliation and a performance open to a new mass-iconografy.

After the break of the eighties the capacity to fall upon a wide range of different practices has become their own characteristic, a path they both walk along in a wide, open, plural and eclectic way.

After having worked apart from each other as a kind of fervent disciples in a savage trans-avant-garde, they have come together again, signing their names on the same works again and fully recovering past attitudes.

In doing their work, Roscubas brothers have started from a previously settled plan. They both plan some series of great inspiration as long-term objectives, contrary to what other authors usually do, for these conceive and carry out every piece of work separately, without being a full connection between the one before and the next one. They both plan every work out of the proyecting idea, fixing up and specializing each other´s tasks.

The capacity of using more means by themselves can only be achieved by dual collaboration and co-ordinated action. The work is not only the direct result of mutual support but also of continuous discussive argument. Ways, motifs, ideas will come out of discussion and different views.

At the present time, artists like Roscubas brothers express an open and expansive view. They do not want to be experts on one matter, people who only know a single language, procedure or material; but depending on the project they will make use of several subjects, adding to their work very different elements, skills. These are the ingredients of an individual who puts an end to modern times´ efficiency, which was so often satirized by Chaplin. Far from the economic approach which causes a reduction in the costs of the production line, the authors make use of every resource in contemporary society. It is a kind of director who makes music with the help, acknoledgement and dedication of the other members of the orquestra.

And so are Roscubas brothers, for they know well and master most different languages and means, making use even of those given them by modern industrial society. Gradually they have employed several skills and materials, breaking up with genres and categories. At first, they only did painting, but they soon began working with very different scultural materials such as wood and polyester. At the same time they used mass-produced photographs and pictures and this became a very important option for creating images in a new way.

Totems are something else than a memory from the past whose atavism gets into people´s unconscious. In the art of the Basque Country they have been a sign or a feature of identity. The movements of the sefl-called Basque School defended a way of understanding art that had a lot of telluric seriousness based on ancestors. When followers came up in the seventies they turned some of these considerations into a religion.

Rocubas brothers have gone further on this subject. After satirizing some of the commonplaces, now they choose the most fiery allusions. Their presence is made clearly and convincingly felt, and, -at the same time,- they celebrate their tearing to pieces. As a result we have a still human being made of layers, like earth´s. Every piece consists of addends, parts of a whole, and stands up with a not totally stable equilibrium, while shaping the severity of dark and concise face, laconic and full of meanders.

Allusions to beauty have woman´s lovable face, while males turn up in the shape of their relatives from Easter Island. Behaviour rites and role symbols at the same time.

By Xabier Saenz de Gorbea, art critic
Professor of the Basque University, History of Art.

Born:
Palma de Mallorca

Recent Solo Exhibitions:
2007 - Campton Gallery, New York NY. 2006/07 - “El pie contra el zapato”, Galería Fernando Latorre. Madrid.
2006 – “Totems”, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco CA; “Al principio hace reir y más tarde hace llorar”. Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras. Bilbao.
2005 - “Fotogramas”, Galería Fernando Latorre,
Zaragoza: “De cinco a dos de la tarde”, Galería Almirante, Madrid.
2004 - “Ayer y Anteayer”, Ilustre Colegio de Abogados del Señorío de Bizkaia. Bilbao; “Me gustaría volver a la tierra”, Trayecto Galería, Vitoria-Gasteiz.
2003 - “Voy a ser feliz”, Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras, Bilbao; “Ñacional Uno”, Galería Fernando Latorre, Madrid.
2002/03 - “Sencillo y Múltiple”, Galería Fernando Latorre, Zaragoza;
2002 - “Convergencia y Pluralidad”, Salas del Centro Cultural Provincial, Diputación Provincial de Málaga. “5x12x19x36”. Galería Altxerri, Donostia.
2001 - Pinturas y Esculturas”, Galería de Arte Astarté, Madrid.
2000 - “De la sensatez a la insensatez”, Zuloa Espacio, Vitoria-Gasteiz. “Beber coñac. Temas impenitentes”, Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras, Bilbao.

Recent Group Exhibitions:
2007 - “Anillas-1978” sculpture exhibited at Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao Spain; “Art Madrid 07”, Salón de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo (Galería Luis Burgos), Madrid; “Danok Batera” (Fundación Gizakia), Aula de Cultura de la BBK, Bilbao Spain; “Incognitas” Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao Spain.
2006 - “Don Quijote y el arte”, Edificio Ensanche de Bilbao. Bilbao Spain; “Catarsis (Rituales de purificación)” Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz; “Ibilarte 06”, Sala de Exposiciones de la bbk, Bilbao Spain “Desegno”, Exposición de Dibujos, Espacio Zuloa, Vitoria-Gasteiz.
2005 – Por amor al arte» (Espacios para el diálogo), Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras, Bilbao
Spain. 2003/04 - “Obra Reciente”, Galería Altxerri, Donostia.
2003 - “20 Aniversario”, (Galería Altxerri), San Sebastián; “Frontera”, Sala Luis de Ajuria, Vitoria-Gasteiz; “Piedra de toque”, Galería Fernando Latorre, Madrid; “Exposición Colectiva”, Basandere, Bilbao Spain; “Arte Actual 2003”, (Galería Fernando Latorre), La Cartuja, Sevilla.
2002 - “Erakusketa Kolektiboa 2002”, Berta Belaza Galería, Bilbao Spain; “El Papel del Arte”, Galería Espacio Líquido, Gijón; “Mediterráneo y Balear”, Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras, Bilbao Spain; “Hotel y Arte”, (Galería Fernando Latorre) Sevilla ”Los paisajes interiors”, Finca Valpiedra, Fuenmayor - La Rioja.
2001 - “Art a L’hotel”, Feria de Galerías de Arte Contemporáneo 2001, (Galería Astarte), Valencia; “La Década de los 90”, Sala Amárica, Vitoria-Gasteiz; “¡Vacas - Behiak!”, Fundación Bilbao 700, Bilbao Spain; “Pinturas y Esculturas”, Basandere. Bilbao Spain.
2000/01 - “Pequeño Formato”, Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras, Bilbao Spain.
2000 - “80 artistas solidarios”, Feria de Muestras de Bilbao, Bilbao Spain; “Pintura Vasca Siglo XX”, Kutxa, Caja Gipuzkoa, San Sebastián; “Liberalt”, Trayecto Galería, Vitoria-Gasteiz.

International Art Fairs and Expositions:
2007 - “Art DC” Contemporary Art Fair, Washington (Galeria Luis Burgos), Washington DC.
2006 - “Arte Santander 06”, XV Feria Internacional de Arte, (Galería Juan Manuel Lumbreras) Santander.
2005 - “Arco’05”, Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, (Galería Altxerri), Madrid; “Valencia Art 05”, Feria de Arte, (Galería Fernando Latorre), Valencia.
2004 - “Arco’04”, Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, (Galería Altxerri), Madrid; “Art Chicago 2004”, (Galeria Altxerri), Chicago IL; “Arte Santander 04”, XIII Feria Internacional de Arte, (Galería Almirante), Santander.
2003 - “Arco’03”, Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, (Galería Altxerri), Madrid; “Art Chicago 2003”. (Galería Altxerri). Chicago, IL; “Art Cologne 2003”, (Galería Altxerri) Colonia Germany.
2002 - “Arco’02”. Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, (Fundación Bilbao Arte) Madrid; “Arte Santander 02”. XI Feria Internacional. (Galería Astarte), Santander.
2001 - “Arco’01” Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo. (Diputación Foral de Alava) Madrid.

Works in Museum Collections:
Museo Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz; Museo de B.B.A.A. de Bilbao; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Nicaragua; Museo de Arte de Navarra; Colección Fundación Cultural BBK, Bilbao Spain; Colección Athetic Club de Bilbao; Colección de Arte Contemporáneo, Diputación Provincial de Málaga; Colección Ilustre Colegio de Abogados del Señorío de Vizcaya, Bilbao; Obras en Colecciones Particulares de Chicago, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Alemania, Beirut y España.