- 7
Jaume Plensa
Estimate
Estimate Upon Request
bidding is closed
Description
- Jaume Plensa
- MARIANNA
- cast iron
- 700 by 84 by 315cm.
- 275 1/2 by 33 by 124in.
Catalogue Note
A winner of both national and international awards, Plensa’s prolific work encapsulates themes of globalisation and human presence. The intense metallic presence of Marianna gives an insight into such concerns. The distorted and elongated head of a young girl enhances the majestic nature of the cast iron and its hieratic presence.The mysterious character of this work is suggested by the artist who has stated:
All I could say, she already knew.
Who is she ? Who am I ?
In an interview Plensa recounted an episode in which he was invited to present a work recently donated by a collector, saying ‘one lady remarked that throughout my speech I asked people to touch my work, to live with it and feel if it was hot or cold, rough or smooth, while, rather close to my sculpture there was a sign saying “Please do not touch”. I replied that the administration had made a little mistake and that it had forgotten to complete the sign. The text should have said “Do not touch it: caress it”. You caress your wife, you don’t touch her. And this is what people should do with art: it needs to be caressed’ (quoted in Barbara Sansone, The Poetics of the intangible: a conversation with Jaume Plensa, September 2010).
Born in Barcelona and currently living between Paris and his native city, Jaume Plensa has undertaken a number of prestigious public art projects around the world. In 2008, his glass sculpture Breathing was dedicated as a memorial to fallen journalists on the rooftop of the BBC Broadcasting House in London. Plensa has experimented with a number of different media within his sculpture such as steel, marble, plastics, and the use of animated features and LED lights lending a vital visual element to his works. There is a great sense of fidelity to material that is intrinsic to much of Plensa’s work; the transparency of Breathing being emblematic of the clarity and honesty sought by those journalists who died in the pursuit of their stories.
All I could say, she already knew.
Who is she ? Who am I ?
In an interview Plensa recounted an episode in which he was invited to present a work recently donated by a collector, saying ‘one lady remarked that throughout my speech I asked people to touch my work, to live with it and feel if it was hot or cold, rough or smooth, while, rather close to my sculpture there was a sign saying “Please do not touch”. I replied that the administration had made a little mistake and that it had forgotten to complete the sign. The text should have said “Do not touch it: caress it”. You caress your wife, you don’t touch her. And this is what people should do with art: it needs to be caressed’ (quoted in Barbara Sansone, The Poetics of the intangible: a conversation with Jaume Plensa, September 2010).
Born in Barcelona and currently living between Paris and his native city, Jaume Plensa has undertaken a number of prestigious public art projects around the world. In 2008, his glass sculpture Breathing was dedicated as a memorial to fallen journalists on the rooftop of the BBC Broadcasting House in London. Plensa has experimented with a number of different media within his sculpture such as steel, marble, plastics, and the use of animated features and LED lights lending a vital visual element to his works. There is a great sense of fidelity to material that is intrinsic to much of Plensa’s work; the transparency of Breathing being emblematic of the clarity and honesty sought by those journalists who died in the pursuit of their stories.