Moisés Villèlia

MOISÉS VILLÈLIA (Barcelona, 1928–1994).
“Poem.”
Folder containing 4 linocuts.
Signed. No. 163
Measurements: 40 x 25 cm.
Moisés Sanmarón Puig, whose artist name was Villèlia, was a sculptor associated with the abstract movement who initially identified with the artistic concerns of the Dau al Set group. He exhibited his work for the first time in 1949 at the Mataró Museum, where he would hold his first solo exhibition five years later. During these years, he created his first non-figurative pieces, which took on tubular forms with channels and longitudinal punctures, and he became involved in the Barcelona art scene, particularly with the poet Rabasseda and the critic Alexandre Cirici. In 1963, he devised his “montages”—pieces that could be combined according to the buyer’s preference—and his growing interest in networks was sparked. With a scholarship from the French Institute in Barcelona, he moved to Paris in 1967. In the French capital, he worked with perforated paper as the primary material for his works. Two years later, he left for Argentina, where his brother—also a sculptor—lived, and eventually settled in Quito, where he remained until 1972. Upon returning to Spain, he moved to the village of Molló, in Girona, where he devoted himself to creating surrealist sculptures using willow wood and assemblages of objects, which lend his works from this period a certain sense of humor. He died in 1994, and in 1999 the IVAM in Valencia dedicated a major retrospective exhibition to him. His work is currently represented at the MACBA in Barcelona, the Reina Sofía National Art Museum, and the Patio Herreriano Museum of Contemporary Art in Valladolid.