Martín Chirino: Spanish sculptor known for iron spirals and El Paso

Artistic approach and materials

Chirino worked mainly in iron, using forging, welding and patination to create works whose surfaces retain traces of tool and heat. He often returned to spiral and circular motifs, forms that suggest movement, tide, wind and the coil of natural growth. These motifs recur at different scales, from smaller studio pieces to monumental outdoor sculptures. Critics have emphasised his ability to fuse artisan technique with modernist abstraction, producing pieces that are tactile as well as formally rigorous.

Career, El Paso and exhibitions

In 1957 Chirino was a co-founder of El Paso, an artists' group in Madrid that sought to revitalise Spanish art in the postwar period. The group promoted abstraction and experimentation, and Chirino's work from that era reflects a commitment to material presence and formal invention. He exhibited widely in Spain and internationally; a notable moment was the 1979 New York exhibition "Afrocan" at the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, which explored Atlantic and African cultural currents and attracted attention in the international press.

Public works, collections and influence

Chirino's public sculptures appear in plazas, parks and institutional settings, where the scale and weathered surfaces of his iron work engage with architecture and landscape. His pieces are held by museums and public collections and continue to be cited by curators and scholars as important examples of postwar Spanish sculpture. His practice is often described as bridging regional identity and broader modernist concerns, drawing inspiration from his Canarian origins while engaging contemporary art debates.

Recognition and legacy

• Co-founder of El Paso (1957), a formative postwar art collective in Spain.
• Renowned for spiral motifs and the use of forged iron.
• Exhibited internationally and produced numerous public commissions.
• Appointed honorary member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 2014.

Martín Chirino died in Madrid on 11 March 2019 at the age of 94; reports indicated the cause was prostate cancer. He is remembered for advancing a distinct strand of modern sculpture that marries craft-based metalworking with poetic abstract form.