Jaume Plensa

JAUME PLENSA (Barcelona, 1955).
“Frozen Memories,” 1992.
Collage and mixed media on tracing paper mounted on cardboard.
Signed with a monogram and dated “P92” in the lower left corner.
Exhibited in Jaume Plensa’s solo exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1992.
Measurements: 60 x 53 cm; 60.5 x 54.5 x 4 cm (frame).

Exhibited in 1992 in Jaume Plensa’s solo exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, *Frozen Memories* belongs to a particularly significant period in his oeuvre, when the artist was exploring the relationships between memory, matter, and physical presence through works that combined drawing, collage, and seemingly fragile materials.

The composition is built around a translucent surface of tracing paper, worked with glazes, stains, and marks, at the center of which Plensa incorporates a small real object. The contrast between the fragility of the medium and the tangible presence of this element creates a tension between image and object that is characteristic of his explorations during those years. The series also took on a life of its own within Plensa’s body of work, as it was the subject of a dedicated publication, *Jaume Plensa: Frozen Memories* (1992), published to coincide with the exhibition held at Estudio Artizar in 1993.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jaume Plensa began to gain increasing international recognition, developing an exploration of the body, memory, matter, and, later, language—themes already present in works such as this one. Around 1992, he exhibited at numerous European institutions and galleries, including the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, and in 1993 he was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France. Her subsequent international recognition, including the National Prize for Plastic Arts and the Velázquez Prize, has established her as one of the most prominent contemporary Spanish artists. Her 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.