Hearing Javier Murcia talk about his process as he breaks down each step of making from clay, a human figure, sounds like a class in anatomy. It’s close.
In this episode of Here Now, Kadambari Raghukumar chats to the sculptor in his studio at Avalon Studios, Lower Hutt, about everything from Spain to Wellington, traversing his personal and artistic journey.
Between recording his 5 hour long full-render sessions for his online sculpting workshops, to casting hundreds of his signature figurative pieces, Javier Murcia has been up against time, and that’s nothing new. A scan around his studio and it’s easy to see how prolific he has been. Javier’s best known for figurative sculpture, a testimony to his acute understanding the human body and movement – from the poses to the proportion.
Murcia was born in Spain and moved to New Zealand to explore work in the film industry, ending up at Weta Studios for several years in an “amazing bubble” as he calls it.
Working with the human form though, goes back to an interest from his childhood, growing up surrounded by books on anatomy, thanks to a physiotherapist father. While it could seem figurative sculpting is more relatable the more realistic it is to the real human form, but that’s not the case Javier says – whether, distorted or keeping with reality, it’s a language unique to the maker.
Part of Javier’s more recent exploration is a newer collection that plays with with enamel, sand, epoxy resin, and a diametric move away from his work with human form. He calls it MaTI – or Matter and Time – they’re large, intriguing, circular pieces of illuminated and textured work – outcomes of his curiosity to see where, if pushed, his skills and artistic language can take him.
