Contemporary Catalan Art
By Ellen Turner Hall
Just across the border in Ventallo, the Fundacio Perramon is a jewel of a museum displaying over 150 works by contemporary Catalan artists.
Grouped in intimate spaces devoted to a single artist, the works represent a wide range of styles from the abstract red squares of Alfonso Alzamora to the figurative tree trunks of Lluis Marsans to the surreal airborne pear of Miguel Macaya.
When you enter the building of Miguel Rasero’s works, it’s as if you are walking around his mind. It becomes clear that he is fascinated by ordinary domestic subjects: a cat, a dog, an evening meal, jugs of wine, a plate of oranges, a bunch of leeks. From handmade paper torn into scraps and layered onto large canvasses he builds his optical illusions. The result? We see familiar shapes and outlines that simply are not there!
One of the stars of the collection is found in the sculpture garden. Josep Subirach’s reclining figure is merely suggested in soft flowing lines the artist magically extracted from a block of white Carrara marble. A leaf, a wave or a shell? All or none of the above? Subirach mines his materials for their expressive power. Catalan art worth crossing the border to see.
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