Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
"La neige rouge", 1991. Artist's book.
With 13 etchings and aquatint engravings, copies 65/75.
26 copper plates.
Signed and numbered by the artist.
Handmade paper made in El Molí de Gelida.
Printing, collage and assembly: Magí Baleta, Barcelona.
Binding: case made at Fundició Cabot, Olesa de Montserrat.
Publishers: Galerie de France, Paris, and Galería Carles Taché, Barcelona.
Measurements: 28.5 x 37.5 x 6.5 cm (closed book); 33 x 50 cm (paper); 32 x 25 cm (copper plates).
Artist's book composed of a cast aluminum box in which a fake clock is embedded. Created by Jaume Plensa, it contains a poem by the artist protected by a felt cover and thirteen engravings of a clock made from twenty-six engraved copper plates. The poem appears in the form of fragments cut out and pasted on red-tinted pages. A watch face made of paper and metal and covered with glass is the lid of the aluminum case. "La Neige rouge" connects with Plensa's other works of the same title in which the artist investigates the links between matter and energy that deform space-time according to Einstein's equation. "La Neige rouge" connects with Plensa's other works of the same title in which the artist investigates the links between matter and energy that deform space-time according to Einstein's equation.
Jaume Plensa studied at the Escuela de La Llotja and the Superior de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi, both in Barcelona. He excelled in sculpture, drawing and engraving. He currently resides in Paris, and has recently been awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Plensa began his career working with wrought iron mixed with polyester. Between 1983 and 1984 he began to mold iron with the casting technique, and developed a sculptural concept based on zoomorphic elements. His work evolved gradually, and he is now considered a precursor of Spanish neo-expressionism. In the nineties he introduced modifications in his work, both materially and formally, and began to use different materials such as scrap metal, polyester and resins. During these years he elaborated series of walls, doors and architectural constructions, seeking to give space an absolute protagonism. Between 1999 and 2003 Plensa became one of the pillars of world scenography, reinterpreting with "La Fura dels Baus" four classical operas by Falla, Debussy, Berlioz and Mozart, and alone a contemporary theatrical production, "La pareti della solitudine", by Ben Jelloun. He has had solo and group exhibitions all over the world, including a retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 2000. Throughout his career he has received numerous distinctions, such as the Medal of the Knights of Arts and Letters in 1993, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture or the National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1997, from the Generalitat of Catalonia. He is currently represented in major museums in Europe and the United States, such as the MOMA in New York, the Kemper in Kansas, the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the Palazzo Forti in Verona, the MACBA and the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.