Lluís Cots

LLUÍS COTS (Barcelona, 1946).
“Interior with Window” series, No. 6, 2005.
Oil on canvas.
Certificate of authenticity included.
Measurements: 100 x 81 cm.

This work is part of a small series of fourteen black-and-white paintings created by Lluís Cots in 2005. The series originated during the artist’s stay in the hospital, during which his room—and especially the window—became the starting point for a reflection on the gaze and the human need to understand what lies beyond the immediately visible.

As Cots himself explains, it was through that window that he began to imagine figures who were looking out. The motif thus takes on a symbolic meaning linked to the desire to know what lies behind things, to understand what is happening, and to seek transparency and clarity. Formally, this reflection translates into an austere and gestural painting style, constructed using broad black masses, smears, and drips that define the space through their hallmarks of contrast with the white of the canvas.

Active since the early 1970s, Cots has developed a solid and coherent body of work, marked by experimentation with mixed media, painting on canvas, paper, and wood, and a constant exploration of materials. He held solo exhibitions early in his career at galleries such as Crecelius (Tarragona, 1971), Da Barra (Barcelona, 1972), and Subex (Barcelona, 1973–1974), establishing himself on the Catalan art scene. In the 1980s and 1990s, his work gained wider recognition through exhibitions at the Maeght Gallery (Barcelona, 1984), the Sala Cajamadrid (Barcelona, 1988), and international exhibitions in Berlin and Paris, such as his solo show at the Galerie Lina Davidov (Paris, 1999).

His work has also been featured in numerous significant group exhibitions, including charitable projects linked to UNICEF and the fight against AIDS, as well as international exhibitions in Basel, Düsseldorf, Montpellier, and Lorraine, engaging in dialogue with other forms of contemporary European painting.