THE PAINTED FOREST OF OMA.- Art and Nature.
The "sound track" of the video is played by my friend Aitziber and me, playing txalaparta, recorded outdoors with the smart phone.
It´s just to hear while reading the post.
Located in Vizcaya, Spain, within the grounds belonging to the Reserve of the Biosphere of the Urdaibai, very close to Gernika and Mundaka (surfer paradise), Is the Painted Forest of Oma.
The famous Basque painter and sculptor Agustín Ibarrola
In an act of syncretism between nature and human creativity, composed between 1982 and 1985, an artistic work that can be included within the current contemporary Land Art, painting with various and colorful Motifs, the trunks of the pines that make up this forest that some call Enchanted
Appropriate points to observe these pictorial compositions are marked by signs on the ground.
Although it may be more funny trying to find for yourself the correct perspective of some compositions.
The forest must be considered, as a whole, as a living entity, constantly changing, although at first glance it seems to us something still. But the land moves, changes due to the rain, the weight of the snow and the trees themselves.
This makes the original conception of the work change with the passage of time, even with the life of the trees.
In this case, the sections of the missing white circle correspond to several trees that have been knocked down by the wind.
Also the barks of these pines are altered by the effect of water and the abrasion of the wind, and of course they are renewed, as it happens to our own skin. That's why the forest is repainted from time to time.
Leaving behind the Painted Forest we can also visit very close, on the slope of Mount Ereñozar and located to the north of the forest, Santimamiñe Caves, the most important archaeological site in Bizkaia.
This cave preserves remains of human settlements dated in more than 14,000 years of antiquity hosting in its interior about fifty cave paintings of great beauty and realism: horses, bears, deer, bison ... the fauna that existed then in these places; In addition to stalactites, stalagmites and all the elements that we can find in a cave from the purely speleological and geological point of view.
Without leaving Oma, you can also visit BASONDO,a Recovery Center for Wildlife, place of reception for wounded or helpless wild animals, who would die in their usual environment without human care. Agustín Ibarrola built and donated the sculpture made with painted trunks, the Totem, which adorns the entrance to the shelter.
Basondo means "next to the forest" in euskera, the language of the basque people, because it is just at the foot of this forest.
If you want you can see the location of these places HERE.
I hope you liked the report on this curious place.
Photography: Fernando "Seisgés" Ramos.
YOU CAN FOLLOW MY OTHER ARTICLES RELATED TO THE FLIGHT BY CLICKING HERE
