Agustí Puig (Sabadell, 1957) exposes a series of thirteen abstract paintings large format where he reflects on humanity and its relationship with the book. It is a unpublished workmarked by sinuous and anthropomorphic shapes and with shades of ochre, white and black, which speak about “the memory and weight of history and everything that is still in time to be written”, he explains in the ACN Natalia Chocarro, curator of the exhibition. Under the title ‘Eyes speak, words look, looks think’ you can see theSpace Art Badia of Sant Joan de les Abbesses until November 27, 2022. It is an initiative of the Itinerar’Art program of the Vila Casas Foundation.
“Try to hint and that the viewer can finish the painting.” These are the words of the artist himself who, during a visit to the exhibition, is satisfied with the location chosen to show this unprecedented series. “Painting is emotion and warmth, and this place (the medieval cloister of the Palau de l’Abadia), between the sculpture, the stones and the painting, I find that they dialogue very well,” says Agustí Puig.
The curator of the exhibition, Natàlia Chocarro, shares this idea and points out that a location like this gives “more spirituality” to an artistic proposal that reflects on human existence. “He does it through an object, the book, with anthropomorphic characters, who are always trying to evolve and which captures the memory and weight of history,” he says. Each painting is a drawing that speaks “of what was written there, that has been erased or that may also be words that will be rewritten” and that the artist has shaped with redone or half-erased strokes.
Other elements typical of his universe also appear, such as the female figure, distorted limbs or eyes that challenge the visitor. “There is also a clear influence of American abstract expressionism, with large formats and canvases and techniques such as ‘frottage’ and ‘dripping,'” says the curator. These are acrylic and natural paintings made from a material which the artist himself has brought from Germany and which he has just completed in his studio.
One of the foundation’s most international artists
The Casas Foundation has a lot of work by Agustí Puig and he is one of the “most international” authors they currently work with. Apart from this proposal at the Ripollès, which can be seen until November 27, Puig plans to exhibit works in different parts of China and this December at a gallery in New York.