El Parque Escultórico Antonio Campillo, Murcia

Antonio Campillo is one of Murcias best loved sculptors

El Parque Escultórico Antonio Campillo, an open air sculptural park featuring 9 pieces by the murcian sculptor after whom it was named, and one by Marta Balmaseda ,his student and friend, the work being of Campillo  himself, was inaugurated in November 2010.

Antonio Campillo is on of the regions best known sculptors, having produced a large number of pieces which are located in strategic places around the City of Murcia and the region, such as the pilgrim on a bicycle, El Peregrino which greets pilgrims climbing the last stretch of the Cuesta del Batel in Caravaca at the entrance to the basilica which houses the cross, or the cyclist in front of the Palacio Almudi, a former grain store which is now an atmospheric exhibition space in the heart of Murcia itself.

He was born in the huerta ( the orchardlands of Murcia) in 1926, where his first pieces were made from its mud as a child, and his pieces are homely and earthy, broadly encompassing religious subjects, bullfighting and the human form, uncompromisingly personal, challenging and yet simply elegant.

Theres no pretension in this park, these are pieces realised by a man in his eighties who knew that his physical capabilities were slowly ebbing away, and wanted to donate a sculptural park to the city in which he was born, a permanent gift to bring art to the everyday world of the modern murcian.

The park itself is in a fairly nondescript location, positioned alongside a main arterial road leading out of the city, in front of  residential blocks of flats and small businesses, yet was a site chosen by the artist himself as it gave sufficient space in which to house the works, yet brought the earth and the huerta into the streets, creating a miniature garden of homage to the female form, a primeval garden of Paradise in which the naked forms of womanly women meet the harsh metals and soulless structures of modernity.

Soft, curvaceous forms, framed by the olive trees of the orchards, the mottled patina of bronze assuming a hue of eternal earthiness against steel, plastic, garish cladding and the stark lines of sharp, cutting edge architecture.

An eternal reminder to the murcians of today that their homes are built on the orchards of the past, and that despite the gloss and glitz of the modern city, the real murcian woman is a creature of the earth and is beautiful in her honesty of form.

These women are generously proportioned, the homage to murcian woman showing a curvaceously honest woman of the orchards, yet beautiful and elegant, and their treatment at the hands of Campillo is nothing other than a homage, a homage to tranquillity and the welcoming bosom of Mother Earth, the bosom to which he returned before the park was even completed, passing away on the 16^th May 2009.

Youll see each piece is named, "Cansera", "Homenaje a la mujer murciana", "La Garza", "La danza", "Jugando a la comba"," Desafiando al viento", "A coscaletas", "La pechugona" and  "La cigarra" 9 pieces with a total value of around 600,000 euros, all seated in concrete bases to ensure they remain exactly where they are now, a garden of tranquillity in a sea of steel.

You can visit the park anytime, its on the outskirts of the city and is a good place to start if youre driving into Murcia to visit the museums or art galleries. You could even park by the marketplace Veronicas and see La Ciclista in front of the Almudi before visiting anywhere else.

El Parque Artístico Antonio Campillo de Murcia

Avenida Principe de Asturias on the corner with Calle Marques de los Velez.

Theres parking in the streets nearby and on wasteland opposite.

Click for map, Avenida Principe de Asturias