catalan artists

Isabel Coixet, who has worked with top stars such as Tim Robbins, Ben Kingsley or Penelope Cruz, has released her new movie, ‘Yersterday never ends’, which is a stark portrait of the economic crisis. The film premiered at the last Berlinale. Coixet talked to ACN about the movie and the problems which are shaking the foundations of Spain. She also highlighted the movie was made without receiving public funds, as it would have been contradictory with the drama picture on the screen.

Eric Roth, writer of “Forrest Gump” or “Munich”, will be joining him in the making of this new movie. Juan Antonio Bayona, after conquering the world of Spanish cinema with his movie “The Orphanage” and entering the worldwide market with “The Impossible”, is now undertaking a project to direct a science fiction film in Hollywood. Few details have been revealed so far, but the announcement has raised great expectation given the enormous success of the first two films by the Catalan director.

The French Arts Centre is organising one of the largest and most complete retrospective exhibitions on the Catalan artist. 33 years ago, when Dalí was still alive, the Centre Pompidou held a retrospective of his work. In the 2012 exhibition, which will run until the 25th of March 2013, it is claimed that Dalí is one of the most influential artists ever, who not only shaped surrealism but also pop art. The exhibition is full of masterpieces, such as the soft and melting pocket watches of The Persistence of Memory (1931), The Great Masturbator (1929) and Mae West’s room, shown in the Dalí museum in Figueres.

The Suñol Foundation celebrates its fifth anniversary with a new exhibition of 100 works from its collection, 30 of which have never been seen before. The exhibition combines works from Catalan artists such as Joan Miró, Jaume Plensa, Antoni Tàpies and Salvador Dalí, with others by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Man Ray and Alighiero Boetti, among others.

The permanent collection of the Can Framis Museum, located in a functionalist venue built three years ago, reopened its doors this Saturday. The museum, run by the Fundació Vila Casas, has restructured its permanent collection of contemporary paintings originating from the 1960’s onwards. The works are by various artists born or living in Catalonia and includes 45 new paintings, 20 of which are new acquisitions.

Savall is awarded the world’s most prestigious prize, offered by the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation in Denmark, for his entire artistic career. The jury recognised Savall as “one of the most important forces behind the renaissance of early music and the discovery of forgotten music”. The Catalan musician is one of the world’s most important researchers of ancient music and interpreters of viol. He developed his career with his wife, the soprano Montserrat Figueras, with whom he founded several ensembles and carried out research. Savall dedicated the prize to her, who passed away in November. Savall told ACN: “When I’m performing at a concert it’s when I am at my most happy”.

Perajaume is one of the main Catalan artists of our time, part of a generation that is already gaining a lot of international recognition, with artist’s such as Jaume Plensa. Perajaume is known for his landscape visual poetry, expressing the excess of the current times and exhorting the return to natural roots. The exhibition is not a conventional retrospective, but instead a “programmatic proclamation”, an element of reflection on the function, the limits and the fate of art when opposed to excess.

‘Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape’ was on show at London’s Tate Modern until September, being one of the must-see exhibitions of the year. Now it arrives at the Fundació Miró in Barcelona. It is the most complete exhibition on one of the most universal Catalan artists of all time, with 170 works on display from public and private collections from all over the world. The exhibition has the double objective of rediscovering Miró’s work and showing his commitment in the era he lived in. Another exhibition on Miró’s posters will run in parallel, focussing on his involvement in Catalan cultural, political and civic initiatives.

The surrealist Catalan painter Joan Miró will have a museum in the country house he spent parts of his childhood and youth, in Mont-Roig del Camp, next to Tarragona. The family, experts and Barcelona’s Miró Foundation will decide on the exact contents, which will be displayed via permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Plensa is the artist behind the famous ‘Crown Fountain’ in Chicago’s Millenium Park, as well as London’s blue light ‘Breathing’ located on the roof of the BBC’s Egton House, dedicated to journalists killed in action. ‘Echo’ is a giant white head with closed eyes, similar to ‘Dream’ set in Liverpool. Plensa’s sculptures deal with human forms, communication, emptiness and a globalised identity.

An exhibition devoted to Miró’s work opens on Thursday in London. It is the first time in 50 years that a large number of paintings by the Catalan artist are displayed in the United Kingdom.

Ester Fabregat has decorated the façade of a Berlin library, which is her third project in the German capital. The sculpture is a colour explosion, bringing light to the grey winter weather. It depicts 3 human silhouettes swimming on the library façade and aims to give a “message of multiculturalism”.

11 artists from around the world are exhibiting their pieces that ‘reflect upon current social problems’. The exhibition is a result of collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull and the Catalan Ministry of External Relations.