Vicente Ameztoy (San Sebastián, 1946-2001) was a contemporary of the painters Marta Cárdenas, Ramón Zuriarrain, and José Llanos, and the sculptor Andrés Nagel. He began his career in the late 1960s in his hometown and, like these artists, in contrast to the abstract style typical of the creators who formed part of the Gaur group, he opted early on for figuration, which in his case was accompanied by an interest in subjectivity and irony. The presence of the unsettling and the unusual was a constant throughout his work, which stands out for its ability to transform seemingly everyday elements, such as the landscape, into something disturbing.

Until now, the first and only retrospective exhibition dedicated to the artist took place in San Sebastián in 1990 and was conceived as a compilation of his most significant works from the 1970s and 1980s. This exhibition will present the public with a comprehensive overview of his pictorial work and will display a selection of 36 works in the Sala Goya.el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid to then travel to the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum during the first quarter of 2020.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring texts by writer Joseba Sarrionandia, independent art curator Fernando Golvano, and Javier Viar and Miriam Alzuri, the exhibition's curators. Sarrionandia will focus on Ameztoy's life and career. Golvano will explore the artist's interest in the myths of the double and metamorphosis, crucial to understanding the work he developed from the late 1960s onward. Viar will analyze the painter's work from an art-historical perspective, examining not only his significant body of paintings but also an artistic practice expressed through drawings, prints, posters, and sculptural objects of all kinds, situating his work within the context of the Basque and international art scene of his time. Miriam Alzuri will present a chronology of the main aspects of Vicente Ameztoy's professional and personal life.