Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
Untitled.1983
Mixed media on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 34 x 26 cm.

This work belongs to a decisive moment in the early evolution of Jaume Plensa, when the artist investigates the physical and symbolic dimension of the human face as a territory of memory and identity. In the early eighties, his production on paper and cardboard is characterized by an intense material experimentation, in which the surface acquires an almost sculptural protagonism.

The composition presents a frontal head of totemic character, constructed by layers of pigment, dense washes and eroded areas that seem to emerge from the support itself. The material, applied in irregular layers, generates effects of oxidation and wear that evoke the mineral, the fossil or the archaic.

The combination of free gestures and symbolic structure anticipates constant concerns in Plensa's career: the body as a container of thought, the face as a mask and identity as a fragile construction.

The piece is coherently inscribed in Plensa's early production, a period especially valued by collectors and institutions for the intensity and authenticity of his formal research.

Plensa developed 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).