J. Artigas, Public Art and Sculpture in Barcelona http://socratesarchitects.com

1. Nicholas Socrates 2008
Joan Gardy-Artigas’ ‘The Fang’/ ‘Earth & Fire’
It’s absolutely magnificent!
Strong and solid,
Rooted in the ground,
of its special grass plinth
Its trunk is like the breast of a lion.
Like a courageous dragon;
so proud
the peak turning into gold
extremely rich and successful
sleek and sexy
very curvaceous
like one big muscle ;
a masculine sculpture
reaching to the sky
pointing up.
To a sharp Intelligent point,
makes you look up
expanding the vision
to the immense awareness
this warrior in the world
gives the public strength and courage to
continue their lives
with great dignity.
A great role model,
standing straight and true,
Tall & Broad,
with an expansive chest –
and an open heart.
This magnificent sculpture exists, in the area, out side the ‘Marie Christina’ Metro Station;
Avinguda Diagonal 621, In the close vicinity is its cooperate owner La Caxia – Savings
Bank; an awesome supermodern minimalistic building with reflective black cubic, glass. This
sculpture is a part of the banks extensive collection of contemporary art urban. The sculpture
and its surrounding architecture speak to each other, (to the La Caxia building in particular) –
creating an absolutely wonderful urban environment. A very unique area of Barcelona.
The sculpture stands at 13.70 metres pointing up to the sky, expanding the publics awareness.
This ‘Untitled’ work, made from painted, gilded concrete, in 1983 is often refered to as
‘Earth and Fire’, also known as The Fang.

2. By, Joan Gardy-Artigas (Born 1938, Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France).
The artistic name of Joan Llorens i Gardy, son of Josep Llorens i
Artigas. Gained his experience in the circle surrounding Chagall,
Braque and Giacometti in Paris. Most of his activity has taken
place in that city, where he has had a studio since 1959. Like his
father he has collaborated with Joan Miró on numerous projects,
and has not only worked in ceramics but also on monumental
sculptures in bronze and in plastic.
Cuisse noire. Original color lithograph,
1966. 75 signed and numbered
impressions published by Maeght
Editeur in Paris.
Image size: 400x365mm. Price: $500
JOAN GARDY ARTIGAS (b. 1938) is a living embodiment of the modernist art movement. He is
the son of Josep Llorens Artigas, Picasso’s and Miró’s favorite ceramicist, Artigas grew up
surrounded by both the art and the artists who revolutionized twentieth-century art. At service as

3. Miró’s assistant, as a teenager, he left Spain several years later both to escape the oppressive Franco
regime and to try and establish an independent artistic identity. After a period as a student at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, he became friends with the sculptor Alberto Glacometti and, opening
a ceramics atelier in Paris, worked with Georges Braques and Marc Chagall.
When his father became too frail to work, Miró called him back to Spain and they had a
twenty-year working partnership - broken only by Miró’s declining health in 1981.
The fruits of this partnership can be seen in the large ceramic murals and sculptures all over
the world including ceramic murals for Harvard University, UNESCO (Paris), Fondation
Maeght (St. Paul), the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka,
the Barcelona airport, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the This public sculpture GardyJoan Miró
in collaboration with
is by
Artigas,
Haack Museum (Ludwigshafen), IBM in 1982. This 22 meters high, in the
Headquarters (Barcelona), and a 60-metre ceramic Parc Joan Miró, also called Parc de
mural for the Palais des Expositions et des Congres l'Escorxador, in Barcelona, Spain, is
de Madrid, He and Miró also collaborated on a 22- made from; concrete and covered in
ceramic tiles styled by Artigas
meter ceramic sculpture for a fountain in
Barcelona.
In addition to his work with Miró, Artigas has made a number of monumental public
sculptures including a monumental work in Zurich, a large fountain for Vitry-sur-Seine, La
Porta Blanca, an 8.5-meter cement and bronze
sculpture for Chamonix, Forma de dona for Plateau
d’Assy, Porta per una ciutat, an 11-meter scupture
outside Barcelona, La porta de Franca, a 15-meter
sculpture on the French side of the tunnel at Mont-
Blanc, Terra I foc, this 15-meter work for "la Caixa,"
Barcelona, and works for Dallas, Atlanta, Miami,
London, the Fonda Europa de Granollers, Barcelona,
and the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Palma de
Mallorca, and sculpture gardens in London and
Tokyo. He also participated in several architectural
projects with the firm of Skidmore Owings, and
Merrill,
making
ceramic
floors and
fountains
in
Atlanta,
Chicago,
Cairo,
Egypt.

4. Artigas began exhibiting his own smaller ceramic and bronze sculptures in France and Spain
during the mid-1960s and began making lithographs and etchings in 1968. He has had a
number of commissions for large public sculptures (in bronze, ceramics, and concrete) in
Europe, Japan, and the U.S. and has had shows in many European, Japanese, and American
galleries and museums, including The Meadows Museum of Spanish Art at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, the Hispanic Institute in New York, and Galerie Lelong in
Paris. A major retrospective of his works in all media was held at the Tecla Sala Centre
Cultural in Barcelona in 1996 and a large exhibition documenting Miró’s collaborations with
Josep Llorens Artigas and Joan Gardy Artigas was held at the Fundació Pilar I Joan Miró in
Palma de Mallorca in 1998.
Spaightwood Galleries gave him his
first U.S. one-person show in 1982, and
has included his work in shows almost
every year since, with one-person
shows usually every two to three years.
He has been a visting artist at the
UW—Madison, and the University of
Nebraska–Lincoln. He serves on the
board of the Fondation Miro in
Barcelona and is Director of the
Fundació Tallers Josep Llorens Artigas
in Gallifa, Spain, which he created in
1989 in memory of his father and to
provide a place where artists from all Objet organique. Ceramic sculpture with acrylic
paint, 1983. Executed while Artigas' was a visiting
parts of the world come together to artist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison . Size:
work for a period of up to six months. 415x620x260mm. Price: $7500.
“First, I believe that a person is an artist not necessarily
by the grace of God—but, well yes .
. . by genetics . . . by force of
character. Then . . . given that
anything is possible and that
everything has already been done,
that we have had a total liberty to
create since Dada and Duchamp
(there’s nothing left to destroy), that
Sensuelles scories No. 5. the academy and academics are totally
Ceramic sculpture, 1981. outdated . . . Then (given all this) . . . the
Size: 250x340x150mm. artist has to choose [what] (a subject) and
Price: $5,500.
[how] (a technique).”

5. “It is rare to find great works in the history of
art that do not have at their origin a profound
motivation, be it religious, nationalistic, social,
or even personal. In my case, the choice was
made almost “automatically.” Not being a
believer, God could not help me. Not having
any particular political sympathies because I am
too critical of all of them, I could not be
nationalistic. The creative adventure, then,
became for me one of eroticizing the world: this
desire, nonetheless, attenuated by something I
have inherited from my father and from Miró, a
taste for work and the pleasure of the raw
materials of my work.”
Objet charnel. Ceramic sculpture with acrylic
“To speak or to do, the ephemeral or the paint, 1983. Executed while Artigas was a
concrete: there is not much to say but so visiting artist at the University of Wisconsin–
Madison. Size: 530x540x320mmmm. $7,500.
much to do. I think that every work which
has ever been created takes much greater effort to be destroyed. That is, after creation the
work has its own life which totally escapes the artist, and . . . that is good because that is what
permits him or her to advance, to progress. Using as a base a definite knowledge, a definite
mastery of the métier, every creator must
subvert the subject. It’s a matter of breaking
the structure—but this is based on “ . . . ”
When the surrealists speak about
assassinating painting, it’s obvious that the “
. . . ” is the basis or point of departure for the
assassination because their means of
expression is painting or literature.”
“For me, it is evident that you cannot do the
game work, create the same piece twice with
earth, stone, and bronze. Each materia,
having its own characteristics, must be
respected for its individuality.”
Plaquette1. Ceramic sculpture with acrylic
paint, 1983. Executed while Artigas was a
“When the concern is creating a sculpture
visiting artist at the University of Wisconsin–
for a specific location, it is obvious that the Madison .
first thing to do is to study the site. An urban Size: 280x400x18mm. Price: $2800
landscape, the open-air environment of the

6. country, a highway, a huge space or a small one sets the conditions for the sculpture—both its
dimensions and its form, even its color. The sculpture can be implanted by opposition to the
environment as well as through
integration with it. In fact, the
location, the site, dictates at least 50% of what the work will be; but it is always, in the end,
based on that “ . . . ” A “ . . . ” that, little by little, bit by bit, because of the work undertaken,
grows and becomes richness itself.”
In fact, all design involves preconceptions about the nature of the community in a broader
sense, whether they are conscious or not. Experiential richness cannot be created by accident,
or without a basic understanding of the sensibilities of those who will be using the space. The
development of the aesthetic reality, which characterises contemporary architecture and
industrial design, by means of individual self-expression or one’s inner spiritual self and
creative imagination, inner resources and intuition are utilized as the base used when
designing. This philosophy is closely linked to a number of artistic values found in
movements like Expressionism and the Avant-garde movement. This design value is closely
related to abstract forms and expression, personal creative liberty, elitism and being ahead of
the rest of society.
Expressionistic form, which can be found, to some extent in the “air” of a given time and
each generation, should generate an aesthetic style that expresses the uniqueness related to
that time. Every age has a certain spirit or set of shared attitudes that should be utilised when
designing. The Spirit of the Times denotes the intellectual and cultural climate of a particular
era, which can be linked to an experience of a certain worldview, sense of taste, collective
consciousness and other-than-conscious greater awarenesses.