Jaume Plensa

Jaume Plensa, born in 1955 in Barcelona, is an internationally renowned Spanish sculptor. He currently lives and works between Paris and Barcelona. He was a professor at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago His artistic training took place at the Llotja school.

From the 80s the artist became known for his work on cast iron which followed different stages In 1986 the artist began a series of cast iron sculptures in which he integrated notions of light and text. Jaume Plensa is also a versatile artist: he collaborates several times with the Opéra Garnier, intervening on numerous occasions on the costumes and sets. For example, in 2007 he participated in the creation of the sets for Le Château de Barbebleue by Béla Bartok. In 2003 he designed the sets and costumes for Mozart's The Magic Flute for the Opéra-Bastille.

The artist has also taken part in major public projects such as the monumental Crown Foutain in Chicago for which he received an award.

The artist's favorite themes are language and diversity. To create his works, the artist does not only use the materials of a traditional sculptor such as stone or bronze but diversifies by preferring to work with glass, resin, sound, water, light. Jaume Plensa declares: “Sculpture ignores fiction. It is not a matter of materials but of emotion. ". His sculptures are permanently visible on Place Masséna in Nice, at Millenium Park in Chicago or even on the MIT campus in the United States.

Since 1992 the artist has obtained several awards such as a letter of investiture as a Knight of the Arts by the Ministry of Culture in 1993 or the honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005. Important exhibitions were dedicated to him at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris in 1997, at the MAMAC in Nice in 2007, and at the Lelong gallery in New York.