Exhibitions
'European resonances: the painter Eduard Bigas evokes the writer Josep Pla' at the Lluís Coromina Foundation
The Palafrugell artist based in Berlin explores and visualizes Pla's narrative, creating a dialogue that highlights the connections between their trajectories and perspectives on Europe.
'European resonances: Eduard Bigas evokes Josep Pla', which has just been inaugurated at the Fundació Lluís Coromina - Espai Isern Dalmau in Barcelona, is a meeting between literature and the visual arts: the works of the artist Eduard Bigas s directly inspired by the texts of Josep Pla. This exhibition, which was first inaugurated at the Fundació Josep Pla de Palafrugell and which, subsequently, traveled this May to the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia in Germany, includes a series of pieces created expressly by the Catalan artist that interpret visually the narrative of Plan. Two people from Palafrugell talking in different times and ways but with excellence as a common denominator.
Eduard Bigas, resident in Berlin for more than a decade, has found in reading Pla's work an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The painter reinterprets the words of the Catalan writer, known for his social and political chronicles of a Europe in crisis, and transforms them into plastic images that invite us to reflect on the present. Through this dialogue between text and image, Bigas projects the concerns of the past into our contemporary reality.
Una vista panoràmica de l'exposició
The exhibition covers key spaces in the life and work of Josep Pla, such as London, Berlin and Russia, cities where Pla was a correspondent and which Bigas shapes from his own artistic experience. The connection between the two creators is not fortuitous: Josep Pla, with his post-war chronicles, described a Europe immersed in inflation, social tensions and the rise of populism, themes that today resonate disturbingly in our present. Bigas takes these themes present in Pla's texts and translates them into images that make us reflect on the current situation in Europe, especially following the resurgence of the extreme right. Thus, Bigas' work becomes a visual and contemporary interpretation of the plains narrative, which remains valid more than a hundred years later.
This artistic and literary proposal also shows the importance that both authors give to travel and to their shared identity as Palafrugelleans. Although Bigas shapes his vision through suggestive shapes and intense colors, always with an abstract and expressionist style, it is clear that his work drinks directly from Pla's words, which serve as a guide to explore the European reality of 'today.
As for the exhibition, it is divided into several areas that present drawings by Bigas, made with various techniques (collages, watercolors, ink drawings...), together with texts and photographs by Josep Pla. Each section includes explanatory texts on vinyl and showcases with working materials of both artists, such as pens, manuscripts and historical objects, which complement and contextualize the works on display.
D'esquerra a dreta: Francesc Montero, director Fundació Josep Pla, Eduard Bigas, artista, i Lluís Coromina, president de la Fundació que porta el seu nom. Fotografies Nordmedia
With this exhibition, Eduard Bigas manages not only to pay tribute to Pla's work, but also to update his perspective, demonstrating that the Catalan writer remains a fundamental point of reference for understanding the great social and political changes of our time. 'European Resonances' is an invitation to re-read Plan and contemplate the Europe of the present through its unmistakable lens, which, a century later, remains as relevant as ever: "Paris is an anthill of activity, a city in The cafes are full, the theaters are packed, and life seems to pass with a contagious joy. However, under this appearance of prosperity, there is a feeling of restlessness. but people still don't seem to care too much. The markets are well stocked, but there are more and more rumors of possible conflicts on the horizon. Is this apparent abundance just a mirage?" (Letters from afar, 1920-1938, Josep Pla).
RELATED NEWS:
Premiere of the medium-length documentary 'Intersection' about the career of Eduard Bigas
Espai Cuixart opens the exhibition 'Dialogue(s). Eduard Bigas versus Modest Cuixart'
The Museu del Suro de Catalunya presents "Intersection" by Eduard Bigas
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