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“I decided a long long time ago to try to send with my work always a message of hope. That was the position. Because I think it is important that art is not only through great beauty… we have to create the beauty of life.” — Jaume Plensa
During quarantine, artist Jaume Plensa created a beautiful and poignant series of drawings entitled STILL. Galerie Lelong presented the series in an online exhibition, April is the Cruelest Month. As part of the exhibition, Galerie Lelong director Mary Sabbatino conducted this interview with Plensa from his “quarantine studio” that he set up in his home in Barcelona.
From Galerie Lelong:
On Thursday, July 9 from 2pm – 3pm (EST), the artist Jaume Plensa and Mary Sabbatino, Vice President and Partner at Galerie Lelong & Co. spoke on occasion of “Jaume Plensa: April is the cruelest month” (June 12 – July 10, 2020). The online exhibition presents eight new drawings from the “STILL” series by the artist, created during his month of confinement at home in April this year.
As in many of Plensa’s works, language is incorporated into the imagery. He used words like anxiety, fear, and love, calling attention to the various psychological states people experienced during the months of confinement. The title, “STILL,” resonates on many levels: it connotes a period of waiting, the gathering of energy, a state of silence and quietness. In the contemplation of these drawings, we see a world both intimate and expansive, expressive of shared human experience during a time when the world was “still.”
