b. 1972 Krefeld, Germany
1992-1995 studied Business Administration in Madrid and Mannheim
1999-2002 studied audiovisual arts in Guadalajara, Mexico
Lives and works in Barcelona and Berlin.

After having worked for corporations such as Siemens, Canon, Interlub and Agilent Technologies in Germany, Spain and Mexico, Uriarte dedicated himself to what he calls ‘Office Art’. The monotonous office routines such as scribbling while on the phone become a powerful source of aesthetic activities, for example, Bic Monochromes, 2005 comprise of three drawings responding to three audio tracks. Drawing repeatedly from left to right and right to left, he created three monochrome drawings in black, blue and red; the colour of the office ruled by a French pen-manufacturer ‘Bic’.

Similarly, his Single Line Labyrinths series, 2007 is a striking visual labyrinth created by basic predetermined rules. The intricate image of seemingly intertwined lines is in fact a single circular line covering the entire page of an Excel-sheet. Uriarte’s works evoke an ironical resemblance between modernist abstract art and the office routines. The former is the outcome of artistic struggles to search for the individual freedom and metaphysical truth, whilst the latter is the very opposite to these struggles.

Uriarte exhibited extensively in Spain and Germany, including solo shows at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela in 2007 and Out of office, Damenundherren E.V., Düsseldorf in 2005. He received the production grant from the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC) in 2006 and the visual art grant from the The Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM, Spanish Bank) in 2007. His works are in the collection of the MUSAC.