JAUME PLENSA: TALKING CONTINENTS AT GALERIE LELONG NEW YORK
November 1, 2013 – December 14, 2013
JAUME PLENSA: TALKING CONTINENTS AT GALERIE LELONG NEW YORK
November 1, 2013 – December 14, 2013
An immersive installation of new stainless steel sculptures,
suspended cast paper heads, and recent drawings comprise Jaume Plensa’s solo
exhibition, Talking Continents, at Galerie Lelong. These
distinctive elements make a realized whole connected through the artist’s
concept - formal language and dialogue - with the gallery’s physical space. As
in all the artist’s works, the tension between the individual components -
poetically imagined as islands or continents - and the overall installation
encourages us to think about the ways in which we are linked as a collective
humanity. Talking Continents demonstrates Plensa’s ability to
create thought-provoking work that reimagines and represents the human figure
with an original and innovative language.
Letters from world alphabets literally form the connective elements
in Talking Continents, the multi-part stainless steel
installation in the main gallery. This series of suspended sculptures are
hand-assembled from die-cut letters of nine international alphabets, the shapes
of which the artist finds very beautiful. The letters work to form a more
complex figure that is not a singular individual but rather a universal
embodiment of humanity. Talking Continents creates a place where
people are encouraged to meet, observe, and contemplate while engaging in a
dialogue that inspires inward reflection and also a sense of global unity. The
idea of continents and their interconnectedness has accompanied Plensa’s work
from the beginning. In the darkened gallery space, each work is illuminated to
create striking light and mysterious shadows.
Installed in a circular configuration in the small gallery are a
series of cast paper heads onto which Plensa has “hand-tattooed” words. The use
of diverse letters, signs, and language in his work shows the intricacy of
different cultures and also how people can encounter one another and through a
universal language learn acceptance and tolerance. When creating these works
Plensa allows the idea to drive the materials, never constricting himself to
one medium. His oeuvre continues to expand, while remaining committed to a
lifetime idea. Plensa says, “I never stand out for technique, I stand out for
ideas. Ideas make a work contemporary, not technique.”
2013 marks a series of events for the renowned artist. At the end
of May Plensa presented a cast iron sculpture, Rui Rui, in Venice for the
exhibition, Glasstress: White Light/White Heat, a collateral event
of the 55th Biennale. In June eleven sculptures were installed throughout the
public spaces of Bordeaux, France for the exhibition Jaume Plensa in Bordeaux and
two cast iron heads, Marianna W and Chloe, were show in the UK. In
2014 recent works by the artist will be on view in Chicago to celebrate the
10th Anniversary of Millennium Park, home of Plensa’s famed Crown Fountain.
Jaume Plensa was born in Barcelona in 1955. The artist has
presented major solo exhibitions at numerous museums, including Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art,
Gateshead, United Kingdom; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, United Kingdom;
Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany;
Institut Valencia d’Art Moderne, Valencia; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona;
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI; The Nasher
Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX; and Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki,
Finland. In 2012 Plensa received the prestigious National Visual Arts Award of
Spain. Plensa is also celebrated for his art within the public space. In 2012
and 2013 he installed sculptures in Calgary, Canada; Rio de Janerio, Brazil;
Bamberg, Germany, and at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
You may visit Jaume Plensa’s exhibition news at TampaMuseum, 56 th Venice
Biennale, Galerie Lelong Paris and Espoo Museum of Modern Arts, Finland
to click below links.
http://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com.tr/2016/04/jaume-plensa-human-landscape-at-tampa.html
http://mymagicalattic.blogspot.com.tr/2015/05/jaume-plensa-together-at-56-th-venice.html
MARIANNA 2012
ANNA 2012
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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YORKSHORE SOUL II - 2011
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YORKSHORE SOUL I - 2011
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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NUAGE II - 2011
STANDING SHADOW I - 2012
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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JAUME PLENSA'S STUDIO
INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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AVILDA 2012
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CHLOE 2012
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GADEA 2012
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INES 2012
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IRMA 2012
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INSTALLATION VIEW - TALKING CONTINENTS
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GALERIE LELONG
JAUME PLENSA
Jaume Plensa, born is Barcelona in 1955. From 1980 with his first exhibition in Barcelona until today, he
has lived and worked in Berlin, Brussels, England, France, USA, and he
currently shares his residence between Paris and Barcelona.
He has been a teacher at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and has also been a lecturer at many universities and art institutions. He collaborates as professor invited at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
He has been a teacher at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and has also been a lecturer at many universities and art institutions. He collaborates as professor invited at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Since 1992 he has obtained various distinctions and awards, both
national and international, notably his investiture as a Chevalier des Arts et
des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (Paris, 1993), the National
Culture Award for Plastic Arts of the Government of Catalonia (Barcelona,
1997), Honorary Doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
(Chicago, 2005), the Mash Award for Public Sculpture (London, 2009), the
National Award for Plastic Arts (Madrid, 2012), and most recently, the National
Award for Graphic Arts 2013 (Madrid, 2013)
His sculptural work has gone through several stages developed
largely with recuperation materials, iron, bronze, cooper, … In 1986, he
started a series of cast iron sculptures, then he incorporated light and relief
written text. Recently his melting materials have been synthetic resin, glass,
alabaster, plastic, light, video and sound. He also has a large production of
works on paper and etchings.
Beside his sculptural oeuvre he is collaborating often working on stage design and costumes for opera and theatre productions.
Beside his sculptural oeuvre he is collaborating often working on stage design and costumes for opera and theatre productions.
A significant part of Plensa’s production is set in the context of
public sculpture, a sphere in which he has works installed in Spain, France,
Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Germany, Canada, the USA, etc. The Crown
Fountain, 2004, in Chicago’s Millennium Park, is one of his biggest
project, and undoubtedly one of his most brilliant. In 2005 he finished Breathing,
which is installed in the new BBC building in London, in 2007 Conversation à Nice for
the place Masséna in Nice, (France), El Alma del Ebro for the Expo Zaragoza, 2008, in Zaragoza, (Spain) and
in 2009 Dream for St Helens,
Liverpool, (UK) and World Voices in Dubai in 2009
(UAE), Ogijima’s Soul in Ogijima, 2010,
Japan, Awilda in Salzburg, 2010, Austria,Tolerance, for
the city of Houston, in 2011 (USA), and Echo for Madison Square Park, 2011, in New
York, Mirror, 2012, for the University of Houston, and Olhar nos meus Sonhos in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2012 and most recently, Wonderland in
the city of Calgary, Canada. Currently he is exhibiting in the city of Bordeaux.
His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums in
Europe, the United States and Japan: Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (Spain);
Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (France); Henry Moore Sculpture Trust,
Halifax (United Kingdom); Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (Sweden); Städtische
Kunsthalle, Mannheim (Germany); Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (France); Museo
Luigi Pecci, Prato (Italy); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (Germany); Museum
Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (Austria); Palacio de Velázquez - Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; BALTIC The Centre for Contemporary
Art, Gateshead (United Kingdom); the Arts Club Center for Contemporary Art,
Chicago (USA); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen (France); Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum,
Duisburg (Germany), Kunsthalle Mannheim Museum (Germany), Centro de Arte
Comtemporáneo, (Málaga); Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nice (France); IVAM
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, (Spain); The Frederik Meijer Gardens
& Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, (USA), The Nasher Sculpture
Center, Dallas, (USA); Picasso Museum, Antibes (France), The Yorkshire
Sculpture Park, (United Kingdom), Espoo Museum of
Modern Art,
Helsinki etc.
He regularly shows his art works at Galerie Lelong in Paris,
Galerie Lelong, New York and Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago and New York.