Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
“Self Portrait as Elias Canetti,” 2009.
Embossed print on washi paper. E.A. edition.
Signed and numbered.
Reference: Galerie Lelong. Printed by Virgili Barbarà.
Measurements: 77 x 52 cm.

In “Self Portrait as Elias Canetti,” Jaume Plensa presents an image of great formal refinement, in which the human figure, the word, and the void become the true protagonists. Against the expansive expanse of washi paper appears a seated black silhouette, almost silhouetted against the light, whose shadow is cast to the side as a physical and mental extension of its presence. The economy of means intensifies the work’s contemplative dimension.

The text arranged vertically—“I have not done marvellous. Few conversations”—introduces a literary and poetic reading, linked to the world of Elias Canetti and to the importance Plensa attaches to the word as sculptural material. This is not a literal portrait of the writer, but rather a symbolic self-representation: Plensa projects himself “as” Canetti, establishing a dialogue between identity, thought, memory, and language.

The seated figure, isolated at the bottom of the composition, seems to inhabit a space of silence. The text rises from it like breath, thought, or an inner voice, while the embossing lends a subtle presence, perceptible only through light and close observation. This tension between the visible and the latent is essential to Plensa’s work, where the body often becomes a vessel for language and the void a space of spiritual resonance.

Jaume Plensa is one of Spain’s most internationally renowned sculptors. His public works can be found in cities such as Chicago, New York, Nice, London, Seoul, and Tokyo, and his work is represented in institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum, the MACBA, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami.