Antoní Tàpies
Prints available from Grafos Verlag
 Homenatge a Max Ernst  Autoretrato |
Those familiar with the work
of the renowned contemporary artist Antoni Tàpies know by the titles
that the Grafos edition graphics represent the entire span of his pictorial
world. These is the reference to his beginnings in his 'Homenatge
a Max Ernst. Spain has long given great attention to Surrealism.
His Autoretrato
(Self-portrait) also refers to his early Surreal self-portraits.
'Heaviness and Lightness' (Lleu)
and Fulla i Tres
( Sheet/Leaf and Three). The deep, existential
backgrounds of his landscapes contain rhythms, as in 'Muntanyes'
(Mountains), or become a protective coating around the human, as
in : Figura paisatje
(Figure Landscape). Reference is made to animal existence
in Tres ulls (Three Eyes).
|
 Vela i creu  El Peu |
The reference to Catalan
suffering and fight for freedom is evident in 'Vela
i creu (Sail and Cross) with its red traces and a
cross. The human presence is represented in Peu
(Foot) or in the motif of Sabata
(Shoe), In this last print, it is the show which knows
how to dance the Sardana. The incorporation of objects into his work is
represented by the graphic Graellat
(Grille), made by the imprint of a grille iron. Signs, numbers and letters
are also present: the X, like crossing beams in Bodegó
(Still Life). In La S,
the large S is like a gesture turning around to catch up with itself.
According to the interpretation by Tàpies' admired medieval Catalan
mystic, Ramon Llull, the S symbolized the relation between the object
and its true essence, whereas X was the demonstration of antithesis.
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 Sabata |
 Graellat |
 Bodego |
 La S |
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The highly suggestive
red color and the dynamism of the oval in Oval
i Roig (Oval and Red) turns into the urgent saturation of the
material: Traspuar
(Exuding). The textured aquatint etching
Cremades (Burns) embodies certain qualities, as if Tàpies
had worked with tar and then stuck on the red field, the cross and the number
like a collage. The surface is like a vulnerable skin in Tors,(Torso),
imbued with the entire essence of the material. He presents the ephemeral
and light qualities of the trace as the most durable of all perception.
The image is there where it meets the eye. And here we arrive at Conceptual
Art. Tàpies' images go beyond the frame and simultaneously reaffirm
tradition, insofar as the content is interpreted in such a way, that it
can be seen in a new light. Tàpies creates a hermetic art. In this
sense, it is a secret code. Mysticism loves the twilight of the passage,
the shadows of city ruins.
These are special and convincing prints, which have been printed over the years for Grafos. To hold a Tàpies graphic in one's hands is to sense something of the prime materials from which this artist extracts his forms. His contact with the congenial printer Joan Barbarà and his printing house, the Taller Barbarà in Barcelona, is an important ingredient of the high graphic quality of these color etchings, some of which are created through complex processes. Barbarà has printed for the most renowned of publishing houses and is an expert, as contemporary graphic art demands. Another word on our selection: the graphic prints by Antoni Tàpies available here from Grafos Verlag cover a period of about 20 years with regards to their date of publication. Friedrich Herlt and his wife Pilar, who is from Barcelona
herself, also acted as mediators between the artist and our publishing
house. The strong presence of Catalan as well as Spanish art in general
at Grafos Verlag (from Dalí, Miró, Chillida, and Tàpies
to Castillo, Gudiol, Ibarz and Llovet) is above all due to their direct
mediation.
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