Article published in ABC Sevilla<\/p>\n\n
The streets of Utrera can be\ncontemplated under the perspective of a time traveler who wants to enter\nin contact with some historical characters through its monuments. It is\npossible to contemplate the neighborhood of San Maria through the eyes of Rodrigo Caro, the\nVia Marciala accompanied by the watchful eye of Clemente de la Cuadra, or\nfeel the activity of La Vereda in the company of St. John Bosco. Around the next January 31 <\/strong>-the date on\nwhich in 1821 Abb\u00e9 Marchena died-, the town will also have\nwith the presence in its streets, a monument dedicated to Abate Marchena, in\nthis case made by the prestigious artist Jordi D\u00edez from Valladolid, who\nhas tried to capture in an artistic work the indomitable character of the\nintellectual from Utrera.<\/p>\n\n This is the final colophon to the\ncalled “Cultural Year Abate Marchena”, which throughout the past 2018 has\ntried to rescue from oblivion the figure of the intellectual from Utrera, who\nactively participated in the French Revolution and translated into Spanish some of the most important writers\nillustrated<\/strong> French. In this way the streets of the town\n, will host a permanent tribute to this character, who disappeared\npractically from history, suffering the enormous burden of what is a real “black legend”\n.<\/p>\n\n Recently, several members of the\nmunicipal corporation, with the mayor Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Villalobos at the head, have\naccompanied the artist who has been commissioned to make the\nmonument, on a visit through the streets of the town, in order to find the best location<\/strong> for\nthis permanent memorial to Abate Marchena.<\/p>\n\n Jordi D\u00edez, already has practically\nfinished this work that will join the list of illustrious characters that\nstand out in the streets of Utrera. He is a sculptor with a\nextensive experience, he studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of\nMadrid and has specialized since 2007 in works made\nexclusively with steel. It is worth mentioning works such as the sculptural interpretation\nof the Loewe bag “Amazona” for the window of the store that\nthis brand has in the Gran Via in Madrid<\/strong> or\nthe exclusive cutlery elements commissioned by the restaurant “El Celler\nde Can Roca”. He has worked on art projects in places such as San\nFrancisco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Singapore.<\/p>\n\n One of the main difficulties\nthat arise when approaching a figure like Abb\u00e9 Marchena,\nwhich are even more extreme for a visual artist, is that although the\nLiterature has bequeathed us many physical descriptions of the Utreran -most\nof them focused on the numerous defects he had-, no portrait of his face has reached\nour days. The artist acknowledged that he has\nfaced in this case a very special commission, saying that “I had never done a monument without a face<\/strong>, the\nexpressiveness of the sculpture has been passed to other areas, it has been a challenge\nexpressive very peculiar and special for me. The character’s power was due\nmore to his intelligence than to his physical presence.”<\/p>\n\n Literature has bequeathed us the image\nof Abb\u00e9 Marchena as a short, ungainly and even\nhunchbacked character, so in this case Jordi D\u00edez has ensured that “we will not\nfind in this project a sculpture made following the canons of\nproportion of Classical Greece, where the historical characters were always represented with athletic bodies\nbecause in this case it was very\nimportant to achieve in the work a magnetic disproportion\n<\/strong>, because it was a very\nmagnetic character.<\/p>\n\n Jordi D\u00edez has made incursions\nin the different materials with which sculptors usually work,\ncarrying out projects made of stone, wood, terracotta or bronze.\nJust over a decade ago he focused on the world of steel, ensuring that\n“I came to this material almost by elimination, when I used structures for\nlarge monuments, I was struck by how\nreally everything was already in the structure<\/strong>. That’s why I look for the\nsynthesis, the energy and power that emanates from within, I try to model\nwith the air”.<\/p>\n\n In the case of the monument to Abb\u00e9\nMarchena, which follows the line of the sculptor’s most current production, D\u00edez has\nintroduced a novelty, as he recognizes that he has used as a model “the naked body of a friend <\/strong>who\nI am convinced was physically like the Abb\u00e9. It is a naked body that\nthen I have dressed, with a concept that can be related to the technique\nof the Greek sculpture of wet cloths”.<\/p>\n\n From the moment he received the commission from the City Council of Utrera, Jordi D\u00edez began to read and research in relation to the most important chapters of the life of Abb\u00e9 Marchena, with the aim of capturing in this work his most pronounced personality traits. Thus began a relationship that was to give the artist a very good time, as he himself confirms: “I have enjoyed it very much, I have worked in a very fluid way, and when you make a sculpture of a character you admire, from a certain moment it seems that this character is already visiting you and is in the workshop with you. I have become very good friends with Abb\u00e9 Marchena<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\nMagnetism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n