Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Catalan visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations.

Biography

Plensa was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He left the studies of fine arts in Barcelona and continued to train in a self-taught way.

Works

Plensa's works include the '' Crown Fountain'' at

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas of Chicago, community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near t ...

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, which opened in July 2004.. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers are tall,. and they use

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corre ...

s (LEDs) to display digital videos on the inward faces. In the summer of 2007, he participated in the Chicago

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

exhibit, '' Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet''. Another Plensa piece is ''Blake in Gateshead'' in North East England, a laser beam that on special occasions shines high into the night sky over

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

's Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. 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 St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 117,308. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens which had a population of 183,200 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census. The town i ...

, as part of the Big Art Project, a major national

initiative linked to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Unveiled in spring 2009, ''

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

'' consists of an elongated white structure 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. On 16 June 2008, Plensa's sculpture of a listening glass entitled ''

Breathing Breathing (spiration or ventilation) is the rhythmical process of moving air into ( inhalation) and out of ( exhalation) the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxy ...

'' was dedicated by the incumbent

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

, 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 London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

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. In 2010, Plensa's '' Alchemist'' was installed in front of the Stratton Student Center, facing the main entrance of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. It is a large, hollow seated figure similar to other contemporary Plensa figures, except that it is composed of numerals and

mathematical symbols A mathematical symbol is a figure or a combination of figures that is used to represent a mathematical object, an action on mathematical objects, a relation between mathematical objects, or for structuring the other symbols that occur in a mathemat ...

, to honor MIT's traditional STEM-focused teaching and research. The sculpture was donated anonymously on the occasion of MIT's 150th anniversary. On 21 September 2010, Spillover II was unveiled in Atwater Park in Shorewood,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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. ''El alma del Ebro'' was created for the International Exposition in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, 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 Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. 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 Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

. From May to mid-August 2011, the work ''Echo'' was displayed in Madison Square Park in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. In November 2012, the

Albright–Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

unveiled a 32-ton sculpture by Plensa called ''Laura''. The tall sculpture is composed of 20 massive pieces of marble from the south of Spain. In 2013, Plensa installed a sculpture named ''Ainsa I'' at the entrance of the Olin Business School of Washington University in St. Louis. In 2017, ''Love'' was installed in the Frisian city of Leeuwarden,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 2019, the MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona organized the most ambitious solo exhibition in his hometown, curated by the museum's director, Ferran Barenblit. The exhibition traveled to the Museum of Modern Art Moscow, where it achieved notable success. In 2020, '' Dreaming'' was installed outside of the Richmond-Adelaide Centre in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Also in 2020, '' Behind the Walls'' was installed outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art. '' Water's Soul'' (2021) is along the

Hudson River Waterfront Walkway The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, also known as the Hudson River Walkway, is a promenade along the Hudson Waterfront in New Jersey. The ongoing and incomplete project located on Kill van Kull and the western shore of Upper New York Bay and t ...

in the Newport section of Jersey City. In 2021, ''Utopia'' was installed at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in

as a part of their ''Welcoming the World: Honoring a Legacy of Love'' expansion project that began in 2017. ''Utopia,'' which is located in the Meijer Gardens' Garden Pavilion, is Plensa's largest indoor work to date. It defines the vast perimeter of the Garden Pavilion and consists of four 20-by-90-foot carved marble portraits of the faces of Marianna, Julia, Laura, and Wilsis, who are frequent subjects of Plensa's other works.

Awards

* 1993: Medaille des Chevaliers des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture * 1996: Awarded by the Fondation Atelier Calder * 1997: National Award of Arts by the Government of Catalonia * 2005: Investit Doctor Honoris Causa by School of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

* 2009 : Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture. * 2012: Creu de Sant Jordi Award * 2012: National Award for Plastic Arts * 2013: Premio Nacional de Arte Gráfico * 2013: Premio Velázquez de Artes Plásticas, by Ministerio de Cultura de España

Gallery

References

External links