Jaume Plensa (b.1955) is one of the world's foremost sculptors, with over 30 projects spanning the globe in cities such as Chicago, New York, Dubai, London, Liverpool, Nice, Tokyo, Toronto and Vancouver.
Over the past 25 years, the artist has produced a rich body of work in the studio and the public realm. By combining conventional sculptural materials (glass, steel, bronze, aluminum) with more unconventional media (water, light, sound, video), and frequently incorporating text, Plensa creates hybrid works of intricate energy and psychology. Plensa's work takes many forms and is invested in evoking emotion and stimulating intellectual engagement. By posing conceptual dualities in his work (inside/outside, front/back, light/dark), Plensa seeks to connect with his viewers on an intuitive level. Often, the viewer participation, or the object/viewer relationship, is what completes Plensa's work.
Plensa was born in 1955 in Barcelona, Spain, where he continues to have a residence and a studio. He has exhibited his work in museums and at outdoor sites around the world. His many awards include the Medaille de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, from the French Ministry of Culture (1993); the Government of Catalonia’s National Prize for Fine Art (1997); the National Prize for Fine Arts in Spain (2012); and the Velázquez Plastic Arts Prize (2013). Plensa is represented by Galerie Lelong (New York and Paris) and the Richard Gray Gallery (Chicago).
The most comprehensive exhibition of this internationally acclaimed artist’s work in North America to date, Jaume Plensa: Human Landscape was jointly organized by Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts..
Jaume Plensa is the subject of the most recent Brilliant Ideas, a video series produced by Bloomberg News that examines "the most exciting and acclaimed artists at work in the world today."