opening reception: Thursday, September 10, 6 - 8 pm
Three resin heads of women, illuminated from within with white neon and rising out of a blanket of white
marble stones covering the floor, make up the central work in Jaume Plensa's upcoming exhibition In the
Midst of Dreams at Galerie Lelong. The exhibition will open to the public on Thursday, September 10 from 6
to 8 pm. The artist will be present.
Since Plensa's last exhibition at Galerie Lelong in 2006, he has been exploring the idea of what portraiture
means in an increasingly diverse world community. Using computers, Plensa begins from a true subject
from life, often a woman, and then alters her face so that race and sometimes gender are indeterminate. As
in his series Soul, previously exhibited at Galerie Lelong, Plensa works the form to find a commonality
expressing the inner presence that emanates from every man and woman. The heads are overlaid with texts
related to various states of being. In one, Plensa refers to a text Oscar Wilde wrote in prison, detailing the
abusive punishments of hunger, insomnia, and disease that were prevalent. The references to these
emotional and physical deprivations express a darker side of the human condition.
By contrast, a related series of alabaster heads emanate a serene presence. The works bear female faces
that emerge softly from within the stone. For these sculptures, Plensa used a photographic source and
laser-cut stone, uniting a craft that goes back to Classical Greece with 21st-century technology. In the Midst
of Dreams expresses Plensa's vision of a universal, global humankind, where race and nationality are
superseded by a common need for spirituality and dreams.
In the Midst of Dreams is Plensa’s fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong. Monographic museum exhibitions
were presented recently by the Institut Valencia d’Art Moderne; Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos; Musée d’Art
Moderne et Contemporain, Nice; and Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. He is represented in
numerous public collections, including the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Museo Nacional Centro de
Arte Reina Sofía, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and North Carolina Museum of Art. Plensa is
active in creating public commissions worldwide—most recently, he was selected to develop a site-specific
installation for the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest structure upon its completion this year. Other celebrated
public works include Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park and Breathing at the BBC Broadcasting
Tower in London. In January 2010, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas
