Galerie Lelong presents
Jaume Plensa
In the Midst of Dreams
September 10 – October 24, 2009
Three resin heads of women, illuminated from within with white neon
and rising out of a blanket of white marble stones covering the floor,
make up the central work in Jaume Plensa’s upcoming exhibition In the
Midst of Dreams at Galerie Lelong. The exhibition will open to the
public on Thursday, September 10 from 6 to 8 pm. The artist will be
present.
Since Plensa’s last exhibition at Galerie Lelong in 2006, he has been
exploring the idea of what portraiture means in an increasingly
diverse world community. Using computers, Plensa begins from a true
subject from life, often a woman, and then alters her face so that
race and sometimes gender are indeterminate. As in his series Soul,
previously exhibited at Galerie Lelong, Plensa works the form to find
a commonality expressing the inner presence that emanates from every
man and woman. The heads are overlaid with texts related to various
states of being. In one, Plensa refers to a text Oscar Wilde wrote in
prison, detailing the abusive punishments of hunger, insomnia, and
disease that were prevalent. The references to these emotional and
physical deprivations express a darker side of the human condition.
By contrast, a related series of alabaster heads emanate a serene
presence. The works bear female faces that emerge softly from within
the stone. For these sculptures, Plensa used a photographic source
and laser-cut stone, uniting a craft that goes back to Classical
Greece with 21st-century technology. In the Midst of Dreams expresses
Plensa’s vision of a universal, global humankind, where race and
nationality are superseded by a common need for spirituality and
dreams.
In the Midst of Dreams is Plensa’s fourth solo exhibition at Galerie
Lelong. Monographic museum exhibitions were presented recently by the
Institut Valencia d’Art Moderne; Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos; Musée
d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice; and Frederick Meijer Gardens &
Sculpture Park. He is represented in numerous public collections,
including the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and
North Carolina Museum of Art. Plensa is active in creating public
commissions worldwide–most recently, he was selected to develop a
site-specific installation for the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest
structure upon its completion this year. Other celebrated public
works include Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park and
Breathing at the BBC Broadcasting Tower in London. In January 2010,
the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas will present Jaume Plensa: Genus
and Species, an exhibition of 9 large-scale sculptures and
installations.
GALERIE LELONG
528 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
T: 212 315 0470
Forthcoming exhibition: Sean Scully, Recent Paintings, October 29 – December 12
