JAUME PLENSA: HUMAN LANDSCAPE AT TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
January 24, 2016 - May 15, 2016
JAUME
PLENSA: HUMAN LANDSCAPE AT TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
January
24, 2016 - May 15, 2016
Jaume
Plensa: Human Landscape will
feature indoor and outdoor sculpture installations as well as works on paper.
This
exhibition is presented in Tampa by PNC Bank with additional support from the
Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County Board of County
Commissioners, and is organized by Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art
in Nashville, Tenn.
Jaume
Plensa (Spain, b.1955) is one of the world's foremost sculptors, with over 30
projects spanning the globe in cities such as Chicago, New York, Dubai, London,
Liverpool, Nice, Tokyo, Toronto and Vancouver.
Over
the past 25 years, the artist has produced a rich body of work in the studio
and the public realm. By combining conventional sculptural materials (glass,
steel, bronze, aluminum) with more unconventional media (water, light, sound,
video), and frequently incorporating text, Plensa creates hybrid works of
intricate energy and psychology. Plensa's work takes many forms and is
invested in evoking emotion and stimulating intellectual engagement. By posing
conceptual dualities in his work (inside/outside, front/back, light/dark),
Plensa seeks to connect with his viewers on an intuitive level. Often, the
viewer participation, or the object/viewer relationship, is what completes
Plensa's work.
Seth
Pevnick, Chief Curator and Richard E. Perry Curator of Greek and Roman Art,
commented, “I am delighted to play a small part in bringing the work of Jaume
Plensa to the Tampa Bay area. Plensa is one of the most exciting sculptors in
the world today, coming off great success at the Venice Art Biennale as well as
in Nashville, where the "Human Landscape" exhibition coming soon to
Tampa originated at both Cheekwood and the Frist Center. His beautiful
sculptures connect the human form to many different aspects of culture
worldwide, and inspire confidence in the positive powers of art.
This
exhibition is also particularly exciting for us because it will mark the first
time that we display large exterior sculptures outside the Museum walls. This
means that visitors to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park will experience part of the
exhibition even before they enter the Museum.”
http://tampamuseum.org/exhibition/jaume-plensa-human-landscape/
THE SOUL OF
WORDS I AND II, 2014
Painted
Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
THOUGHTS, 2013
Stainless Steel and Stone
Dimensions: 310 x 200 x 270 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE HEART OF TREES, 2007
Bronze ( 7 Elements )
Dimensions: 99 x 66 x 99 cm (Each)
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE
HEART OF TREES
The
Heart of Trees is
probably the most specific and personal work. It's an installation of seven
identical bronze self-portraits embracing seven foxtail palms. (It's informally
called Tree Huggers.) Each figure bears names of Plensa's favorite
19th and 20th century composers. Created in 2007, it's one of the older works
in the exhibition but represents a new sensibility dating from 2004, when his
famous Crown Fountain debuted in Chicago's Millennium
Park. It used 1,000 faces of Chicago residents projected onto a glass block
wall. Each opens his mouth and, instead of words, water spouts out. It
generated his interest in sculpting the human form, which he has been doing now
for more that a decade. But he also loves music and literature, especially
poetry, and his work, older and newer, embodies them, too. While The Heart of Trees references music, for example, it
is silent because anything aural can be a distraction from the contemplative
state Plensa hopes his works inspire.
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/review-plensa-sculptures-at-tampa-museum-of-art-much-deeper-than-face-value/2264817
THE HEART OF TREES, 2007
Bronze ( 7 Elements )
Dimensions: 99 x 66 x 99 cm (Each)
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL,
SPEAK NO EVIL, 2010
Polyester Resin, Stainless Steel and Led Light
Dimensions: 122
x 148 x 205 cm (Each)
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SELF PORTRAIT, 2013
Stainless Steel
Dimensions: 325
x 350 x 350 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SELF PORTRAIT,
2013
Stainless Steel
Dimensions: 325 x 350 x 350 cm
Tampa Museum of
Art, Tampa, FL. Photo: Ryan Walsh
©Jaume Plensa.
Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
ETERNITY IS IN LOVE, 2007
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 84 x 30 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
EXUBERANCE IS BEAUTY… 2007
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 84 x 30 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
L’AME DES MOTS X, 2009
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 211 x 140 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
Installation View From Tampa Museum of
Art,
Tampa, FL. Photo: Ryan Walsh
©Jaume Plensa. Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
SOUL, 2005
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 160 x 112 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SHADOW ( STUDY ) XLIII, 2011
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 158 x 112 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
MATTER-SPIRIT, 2005
Bronze, Rope, Wood and Wool
2 Elements of 130 cm in Diameter 40 Kg Each
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
The Tampa Museum of Art opened its award-winning new
home in 2010 with a commitment to providing innovative public programs with a
strong focus on classical, modern, and contemporary art. The Museum balances a
growing collection, including one of the largest Greek and Roman antiquities
collections in the southeastern United States, with a dynamic annual schedule
of special exhibitions. It is the region’s largest museum devoted to art of our
time and has built a reputation for embracing contemporary photography and new
media; most notably, Leo Villareal’s Sky (Tampa), the 14,000-square-foot LED
installation on the Museum’s south façade, has become an iconic image for
Tampa. Since its founding in 1979, the Museum has been dedicated to providing
quality education to students and adults, with more than half of its programs
offered free of charge. The Museum is home to Sono Café, a Slow Food movement
café overlooking the Hillsborough River, and has emerged as Tampa’s premier
venue for special events.
You may visit Archdaily web page to have more
architectural information about Tampa Museum of Art Design by Stanley Saitowitz
I Natoma Architects.
Photographs: Richard
Barnes
http://www.archdaily.com/52247/tampa-museum-of-art-stanley-saitowitz-natoma-architects
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
Photograph © Richard Barnes
TAMPA MUSEUM OF ART
Photograph © Richard Barnes
THE SOUL OF WORDS I AND II, 2014
Painted Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL. Photo:
Ryan Walsh
©Jaume Plensa. Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
THE SOUL OF WORDS I, 2014
Painted Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE SOUL OF WORDS II, 2014
Painted Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE SOUL
OF WORDS I AND II
The
Soul of Words I and II uses
eight alphabets to shape two men sitting, facing each other. Language is a
communicator unique to humans, yet, as Plensa might be saying with his Tower of
Babel jumble, it can create more barriers than bonds. Or the openness of these
sculptures may be a metaphor for open-mindedness.
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/review-plensa-sculptures-at-tampa-museum-of-art-much-deeper-than-face-value/2264817
SILENT MUSIC II, 2013
Stainless Steel and Stone
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of
Art, Tampa ©Jaume Plensa
SILENT MUSIC II, 2013
Stainless Steel and Stone
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of
Art, Tampa, FL. Photo: Ryan Walsh.
©Jaume
Plensa. Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
SEVEN TO?, 1993
Etching
Dimensions: 31,5 x 42,5 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
BELA BÁRTOK, 2008
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 45 x 33 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
MAHLER, 2008
Mixed Media
Dimensions: 45 x 33 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
INTERIORS III, 1991
Etching
Dimensions: 75 x 55,5 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SILENT
RAIN
The
only nonfigurative work in the exhibition is Silent Rain, which
is also an older one, created in 2003. It employs language and sound and is
interactive. Metal letters are strung on cords hanging from the ceiling in what
seems like random order. But they are lines from some of his favorite poets,
and a diverse group they are, including Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Blake,
William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg. The quotes are arranged vertically
rather than horizontally, so reading them requires concentration. As you
decipher the lines, you walk through this "curtain," creating a
melodic tinkling.
If you
are ever fortunate enough to have a conversation with Jaume Plensa, as I did
several weeks ago, you will understand more deeply that he most of all wants us
to enjoy his art, find a sense of serenity, however temporary, in it and not
stretch for cosmic truths. Everything we need is already inside us, he might
say, and his sculptures might help as conduits.
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/review-plensa-sculptures-at-tampa-museum-of-art-much-deeper-than-face-value/2264817
SILENT RAIN, 2003
Iron
Dimensions: High 296 x Variable Dimension
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
PAULA, 2013; AWILDA, 2012; MARIANNA,
2013
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL. Photo:
Ryan Walsh. ©Jaume Plensa.
Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
AWILDA, 2012
Bronze
Dimensions: 190 x 61 x 62 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
PAULA, 2013
Bronze
Dimensions: 179 x 63 x 63 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
MARIANNA, 2013
Bronze
Dimensions: 186 x 69 x 64 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE SOUL OF WORDS I AND II, 2014
Painted Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
DELL’ARTE, 1990
Etching
Dimensions: 123 x 123 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THOUGHTS, 2013
Stainless Steel and Stone
Dimensions: 310 x 200 x 270 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL,
SPEAK NO EVIL, 2010
Polyester Resin, Stainless Steel and Led Light
Dimensions: 122 x 148 x 205 cm (Each)
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
LAURA WITH BUN, 2014
Cast Iron
Dimensions: 703 x 99 x 310 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
WHEN?, 2005
Mixed Media
160 x 112 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
SELF-PORTRAIT
XXII, 2005
Mixed
Media
Dimensions: 41
x 30 cm
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
LAURA
WITH A BUN
Though
made of cast iron and looming over us at more than 20 feet, Laura With a Bun has a similar delicacy. It adds grace
to a graceless corner of the museum, next to the railroad tracks but with a
decent view of the Hillsborough River. The head is elongated and flattened so
that, from certain angles, it looks like a flat plane instead of a dimensional
piece. The dark iron suggests a shadow. You will notice that the eyes, as in
all of Plensa's sculptures, are not just closed, they are worked to suggest a
recession into the head, looking inward instead of outward. Plensa speaks a lot
about trying to picture the soul, and his sculptures could be seen as
representing "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual
grace" as some Christian denominations word the concept. The clean, serene
lines, the sightless eyes, belie an intentional contradiction in much of
Plensa's work: that our eyes are needed to access this form of soul-searching.
The
artist has called his works "bottles where you can find the message."
In the full-body sculptures, the messages are more direct. The forms are sometimes
made using letters, numbers and symbols.
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/visualarts/review-plensa-sculptures-at-tampa-museum-of-art-much-deeper-than-face-value/2264817
AWILDA & IRMA, 2014
Stainless Steel
Dimensions: 400 x 400 x 300 cm (each)
Tampa Museum of Art ©Jaume Plensa
THE SOUL OF WORDS I AND II, 2014
Painted Stainless Steel + Marble Stones
Dimensions: 310 x 230 x 290 cm
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL. Photo:
Ryan Walsh
©Jaume Plensa. Courtesy Gallerie Lelong, New York
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.
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.
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.
