Jaume Plensa i Suñé (Catalan pronunciation:[ˈʒawməˈplɛnsə]; born 23 August 1955)[1] is a
Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan theatrical group
La Fura dels Baus. He is better known for his large sculptures made up of letters and numbers.[2][3]
Biography
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adding to it. (April 2019)
Plensa was born in
Barcelona,
Catalonia,
Spain. He left the studies of fine arts in Barcelona and continued to train in a self-taught way.[4]
In 2007, working closely with a group of local ex-miners, he was also commissioned to create a new work on the landmark site of a former colliery near
St Helens, Merseyside, as part of the Big Art Project, a major national
public art initiative linked to
Channel 4. Unveiled in spring 2009, Dream consists of an elongated white structure 20 metres (66 ft) tall, weighing 500 tons, which has been carved to resemble the head and neck of a young woman with her eyes closed in meditation. The structure is coated in sparkling white Spanish
dolomite, as a contrast to the coal which used to be mined there.[8]
On 16 June 2008, Plensa's sculpture of a listening glass entitled Breathing was dedicated by the incumbent
Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Ban Ki-moon, as a memorial to journalists killed whilst undertaking their work. The sculpture in steel and glass sits atop a new wing of
Broadcasting House in London. At 22:00 GMT each evening a beam of light will be projected from the sculpture extending 1 km into the sky for 30 minutes to coincide with the
BBC News at Ten.[9]
On 21 September 2010,
Spillover II was unveiled in Atwater Park in
Shorewood,
Wisconsin,
United States. A 260 cm (102 in) tall statue consisting of steel letters welded together in the shape of a man on top of a concrete base. [11]
El alma del Ebro was created for the International Exposition in
Zaragoza,[12] the theme of which was "Water and Sustainable Development". It is eleven meters high, the sculpted letters representing cells of the human body which is over 60% water. Its white letters and hollow structure invite the viewer to look inside and reflect on the relationship between human beings and water. A similar sculpture entitled Singapore Soul (2011) was installed in front of the
Ocean Financial Centre in
Singapore. And an ensemble piece entitled I, You, She, He... with three figures composed of the letters, each seated on large flat boulders, can be seen at the
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, in
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In November 2012, the
Albright–Knox Art Gallery in
Buffalo, New York unveiled a 32-ton sculpture by Plensa called Laura. The 20-foot (6.1 m) tall sculpture is composed of 20 massive pieces of marble from the south of Spain.[14]