Jaume Plensa: '1004 Portraits'

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Jaume Plensa’s ‘Crown Fountain,’ the artist presents four monumental sculptures installed in Millennium Park for this special exhibition.

The sculptures are portraits of young girls created in cast iron and resin; they continue the story of the original 1000 portraits of local Chicago residents that illuminate the Crown Fountain every day.

Jaume Plensa (Spain, 1955) is one of the world’s foremost sculptors working in the public space, with over 30 projects spanning the globe in cities such as Chicago, Dubai, London, Liverpool, Nice, Tokyo, Toronto and Vancouver.

Over the past 25 years, the artist has produced a rich body of work in the studio and the public realm. By combining conventional sculptural materials (glass, steel, bronze, aluminum) with more unconventional media (water, light, sound, video), and frequently incorporating text, Plensa creates hybrid works of intricate energy and psychology.

• The Crown Fountain, 2004, in Chicago’s Millennium Park, is one of his biggest project, and undoubtedly one of his most brilliant.
• In 2005: Breathing, installed in the new BBC building in London.
• In 2007: Conversation à Nice for the place Masséna in Nice, France.
• In 2008: El Alma del Ebro for the Expo Zaragoza, in Zaragoza, Spain.
• In 2009: Dream for St Helens, Liverpool, UK; and World Voices in Dubai, UAE.
• In 2010: Ogijima’s Soul in Ogijima, Japan; and Awilda in Salzburg, Austria.
• In 2011: Tolerance, for the city of Houston; and Echo for Madison Square Park in New York.
• In 2012: Mirror, for the University of Houston; and Olhar nos meus Sonhos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Most recently: Wonderland in Calgary, Canada.
• Currently he is exhibiting in the city of Bordeaux, France.

The winner of many national and international awards, Jaume Plensa’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums in Europe, the United States and Japan: Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (Spain); Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (France); Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, Halifax (United Kingdom); Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (Sweden); Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim (Germany); Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (France); Museo Luigi Pecci, Prato (Italy); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (Germany); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (Austria); Palacio de Velázquez - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; BALTIC The Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (United Kingdom); the Arts Club Center for Contemporary Art, Chicago (USA); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen (France); Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg (Germany), Kunsthalle Mannheim Museum (Germany), Centro de Arte Comtemporáneo, (Málaga); Musée d’Art Contemporain,  Nice (France); IVAM Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, (Spain); The Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, (USA), The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, (USA); Picasso Museum, Antibes (France), The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, (United Kingdom), Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki, etc.

Jaume Plensa will be lecturing on his work at the Art Institute of Chicago on Monday, June 16 at 6 pm.