Exhibition: 'Silent Diary' by Jaume Plensa

Galerie Lelong & Co., New York is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Jaume Plensa, Silent Diary, highlighting new works on paper and premiering a sculptural form entirely new to the artist’s oeuvre. Best known for his monumental public-facing works in portraiture, drawing has long been a rich part of Plensa’s practice and was the focus of two recent institutional solo exhibitions: In small places, close to home at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK (2022) and La lumière veille, dessins 1982-2022 at Musée Picasso, Antibes, France (2022). New drawings referencing influential poets will be on view, complemented by a selection of sculptures, the forms of which are comprised of characters from various alphabets, highlighting language and poetry as recurring sources of inspiration in the artist’s practice.

Plensa’s works on paper often combine mixed media and collage, imbuing the works with a sculptural quality. In large scale drawings, Plensa geometrically arranges clippings of poems by masters of the genre—among them T.S. Eliot and Charles Baudelaire—merging the literary and visual arts. These collages are accented by shadowing and reliefs of abstracted portraiture, bringing depth to the two-dimensional forms. The artist has likened his approach to drawing and collage to the human body, bringing many individual elements together to form a more important whole. Plensa’s practice is guided by a desire to create unity through connections of the body and collective memory, and with these drawings offers an expression of a reflective inner world.

About the Artist

Jaume Plensa is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading contemporary sculptors. Over the past 35 years, he has created sculptures and installations that unify individuals through connections of spirituality, the body, and collective memory. Literature, psychology, biology, language, and history have been key guiding elements throughout his career. Using a wide range of materials including steel, cast iron, resin, paraffin wax, glass, light, water, and sound, Plensa lends physical weight and volume to components of the human condition and the ephemeral.

Underlining Plensa’s practice is an ongoing pursuit to evoke the beauty in simplicity, encouraging points of convergence for viewers of the work, which range from architectural landmarks bridging local communities to intimate sculptures. Plensa’s long career with public-facing artworks—seen all over the world from Seoul to Dubai—originates from his belief in the ability of art in public spaces to create inclusive, transformative experiences for a diverse and extensive audience.

The artist’s celebrated works can be seen at The Shard, London, UK; Newport Pier Park, Jersey City, New Jersey; Hudson Yards, New York City; Bonaventure Gateway, Montreal, Canada; Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois; Olympic Sculpture Park, Washington; Burj Khalifa, United Arab Emirates; BBC Broadcasting Tower and St. Helens, England; Pearson International Airport, Canada; Daikanyama, Toranomon Hills, and Ogijima Japan; Shanghai IFC Mall, China; Albright Knox Art Gallery, New York; Rice University, Texas; Bastion Saint-Jaume, France; Raoul Wallenberg Square, Sweden; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; among many other sites worldwide.

Jaume Plensa: JANUS, a solo exhibition organized by Fondazione Berengo, is currently on view at Chiesa di San Gallo, Venice, Italy, through September 2024. Solo museum exhibitions have been held at Musée d'Art Moderne de Céret, France; MACBA–Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas; Musée Picasso, Antibes, France; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK; and the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland. Jaume Plensa: Together was presented at the Basilica San Giorgio Maggiore in Italy as a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. The artist was honored at the Hirshhorn New York Gala in 2019 and received the Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Madrid, Spain, in 2013, among other accolades. In 2024, the artist will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Notre Dame University, Indiana. A documentary feature of the artist’s life and work Jaume Plensa: Can You Hear Me? was released in 2020.

The artist was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1955, where he currently lives and works.