Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
"Llibre de Meravelles. Ramon Llull", 2009.
Bibliophile edition with original intervention by Jaume Plensa (silkscreen printing and embossing inside the volume).
And steel case designed by the artist.
Numbered copy 146/1000.
Published by Edicions 62 commissioned by Enciclopèdia Catalana.
Measurements: 48 x 34 x 7 cm (case).

Bibliophile edition by Edicions 62 commissioned by Enciclopèdia Catalana. The volume includes texts by Ramon Llull, with a prologue and selection of texts by Pere Gimferrer, and includes a steel case designed by Jaume Plensa, conceived specifically for this edition.

Two main print runs were made: a special edition of 75 numbered copies hand-signed by the artist with a numbered slipcase, and an edition of 1,000 numbered copies (like the present edition, 146/1000) with an engraved signature. In addition, there are artist's proofs and hors commerce copies.

Plensa's intervention -through silkscreen printing and embossing- dialogues with the Catalan medieval tradition and with the symbolic dimension of Llull's text, integrating word, matter and volume. The openwork steel case, built from superimposed letters, turns the book into a sculptural object, one of the characteristic features of the artist's language, where writing and body merge into the same conceptual structure.

Jaume Plensa has received important awards, including the National Plastic Arts Award from the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture. His work is part of important international collections and museums such as the MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and the MACBA in Barcelona.