The artist follows an inner rigor evident in all his stages of painting. It is this rigor which allows his spontaneity complete freedom. Fed by the material concepts of Dadaism and Surrealism and strengthened by the contemporary, loose gestures of Tachism at the beginning of the 50's, Tàpies felt compelled to take a step forward within Informal Art. Tàpies describes his friendship with the writer and art theoretician Miguel Tapié as one of his most fruitful experiences in his development as an artist. A great many other friends could be mentioned, with whom Tàpies held a decisive interchange of ideas, from the people of the Maeght Gallery to Miró and the ceramist P.L. Artigas.

It seems too superficial to simply remark that Antoni Tàpies' art in the 60's caused a sensation through his incorporation of objects, unexpected materials such as straw, dirt, fluff, cardboard, graffiti, jute sacks, items of clothing, cords, strings and rags. To attempt to understand his art, it would perhaps be wise to take the following advice: Walk though the sand, then turn around to see the trail you've made, consciously realize the transformation of the material, and see how the material speaks for itself.

What Tàpies creates in his paintings is an encounter with matter, dug-up traces of life. The painting becomes a field of vision, the panel becomes an object. What is being communicated is simply what is: straw is straw, numbers are numbers, the rough surface remains a rough surface. The painting's composition had no end in itself, it did not lead to the game of aesthetics. Whenever beauty played a part, then it had snuck in through the back door. As Tàpies himself said: 'Questions of balance play a role, but never questions of harmony.... Forms should resemble their original natural rhythms.' Or in other words: 'Where painting follows the currents of Tao ...'.

The meaning lies in the objects - appearance is theirs to retain or discard. The letter has long since given up the desire to be part of a word. The letter S becomes a double curve, a loop, the load-bearing T with its crossed lines becomes the most likely pictorial concentrate of a code language being formed. And that is one of the most decisive aspects of Antoni Tàpies' work: the formed comes casually into dialogue with the unformed. The composition is secondary, a simple derivative of this continuous encounter among matter. And this is where some part of the alchemy, mysticism and wisdom of all cultures jumps onto the paintings and into our everyday experience and, quite in the artist's style, he quietly transforms it. ek

Antoni Tàpies' Works as Reflected in his Graphic Art. ek

The graphic qualities is dependent on the coarseness of the grain, the relief effects, and the permeation and total saturation of the support. In graphic art, as opposed to painting, the fragility of the paper limits the natural incorporation of foreign matter, and yet a print by Tàpies is an object made to be touched. The etching technique is visibly pushed to its outermost limits, worn down and freed of its traditional limitations. To the artist, lithography and color etching come closest to painting. This Grafos edition offers exclusively color etchings, with embossing, collage, dry point and aquatint all included in this technique. The coarse grain of his aquatints recalls the sand in some of his paintings. The artist's free handling of the material can also be seen in his prints: fibers, splinters, the force of spontaneity is the essence of this language, which does not reveal itself like a sterile, polished form.

One of his first complete graphic series was created in the 60's to text by Tàpies' poet friend Joan Brossa. It shows strong emphasis on the above-mentioned motifs. From the torso to the calligraphic gesture, from the crossing lines to the depth of the black and gray tones, everything is there: the change from line to area as a matter of course, the mysterious dark areas, spontaneous meditation and concentration as proclaimed by teachers of Zen. The hand-made quality of the object as well as the organic mineral qualities of a landscape, the intermediate stage, the twilight of the transition.

Tàpies lives in an introverted-looking building in the middle of the Gothic quarters of Barcelona. In his works, medieval literature, Catalan mysticism, play as important a role as contemporary poetry and Oriental culture and philosophy. Early in his career, he had already created astonishing books in collaboration with Joan Brossa, an alternating approach ranging from poetry and painting to the anti-book. Tàpies' graphics are often a response to poets: Octavio Paz, Shuzo Takiguchi, Pere Gimferrer, Rafael Alberti and Jacques Dupin. Each encounter was the beginning of a friendship. Ramon Llull's mysticism served as a bridge between the centuries.

Erker Verlag has published the artist's writings and autobiographical notes, translated from the Catalan into the German, as well as editing a catalogue raisonné of his graphic works. Tàpies made a great many lasting friendships with his established printers. The same is true of the lithograph work with Erker Presse in St. Gallen. Hence it is no wonder that Tàpies created a work for the business school of St. Gallen in 1962, or that in 1970, another monumental, representative work by Tàpies, calling the eye's attention to a new artistic movement, was hung on the walls of the town theater of St. Gallen. The commotion it caused at the time nearly obliviated the urgent humanitarian appeal contained within it. Those who can decipher this work, with its strong political content, also hold the key to deciphering graphics such as 'Vela i creu'. In the latter, a sail with four red lines evokes the Catalan flag. His works, which represent the fight for freedom of individuals as well as cultures, are both indictment and plea.

The foundation established by the artist publishes imposing catalogues raisonnés on his works as well as his writings. The museum and the library, dedicated to East Asian culture, are open to the public. Tàpies' love of the book and everything related to it has a long history. Delving into it would lead to the discovery of the heart of his philosophy of life and art. ek