Víctor Goikoetxea
ARTIST
“I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape.” This quote, attributed to Christian Dior, ran through the mind of Basque artist Víctor Goikoetxea before he embarked on a huge project for the French maison of the same name. The Parisian brand asked him to design the finishes for the walls of its new boutique in Guadalajara, Mexico. Goikoetxea agreed to do the job and, after months of work, the shop is now about to open its doors. Like in its garments, the haute couture house was seeking exclusivity in its shop’s finishes, and the idea of Goikoetxea and the creative team was to use pearlescent paints and natural stucco to do the trick.thus, the artist took on the walls of the boutique as if they were a colossal canvas by applying stucco to the natural lime, giving it abstract shapes. These walls, in conjunction with the furniture designed by Peter Marino (a well-known architect who has designed the interior of stores for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Giorgio Armani), have yielded an exceptional and exclusive interior which will be replicated in other boutiques by Christian Dior around the world.
In addition, Goikoetxea is carrying out two institutional projects in Switzerland: he is creating an architecturalpictorial piece with a significant conceptual load for the auditorium of the Commune of Meinier and, also in Geneva, he has just presented a project to cover the largest wheat silo in the country with solar panels and two mosaics inspired by the surrounding landscape.
On a more artistic level, the City of Jávea has just commissioned him to paint a large exterior mural to pay tribute to the coastal municipality’s fishermen. This is his second project in conjunction with the city council, as in 2019 he was commissioned to make a sculpture to honor the tennis player David Ferrer, a native of the town.
The link between architecture and art has always been a constant throughout Goikoetxea’s career. In San Sebastián, in the showroom of the Sukia construction company, he installed a giant curved mural with a finish inspired by organic textures; and he is currently creating some gold and silver thermoformed panels for a luxury hotel in Denia to be installed on the ceiling of the lobby, as well as painting a figurative image that will cover the main façade of the building.
Art, craftsmanship, design, and architecture merge in the pieces by Goikoetxea. It is, after all, about improving the environment and people’s lives. Christian Dior once said: “A dress is a piece of ephemeral architecture, designed to enhance the proportions of the female body,” and could say that the same is true forvíctor Goikoetxea’s art.