Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
"Saliva".2000.
Arakaji paper dyed and pasted on Zercall velin paper, collage, photograph and plastic sphere, copy 11/40.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 50 x 30 cm.

This work belongs to a series limited to 40 copies made by Jaume Plensa in 2000, composed of works of strong conceptual charge in which the artist explores the fragility of the body and identity through direct references to vital flows. Each piece is articulated around an intense red monochrome field, on which appear letters in relief and a small photographic image encapsulated in a plastic sphere, generating a contrast between the intimate and the symbolic, the organic and the industrial.

The combination of collage, photography and three-dimensional elements reinforces the poetic character of the series, where language becomes matter and the body becomes metaphor.

Trained at the Massana School in Barcelona and later influenced by contemporary European sculpture, Plensa develops his own style where the human figure, signs and materials are simplified and reorganized in compositions that dialogue with the viewer both visually and conceptually. Plensa has exhibited internationally at leading institutions such as the Venice Biennale, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the MoMA in New York and the MACBA in Barcelona. His sculptures and drawings are part of such prestigious collections as the Tate Modern (London), Fundació Joan Miró (Barcelona), Centre Pompidou (Paris) and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid).