Josep Maria Riera i Aragó

JOSEP MARIA RIERA I ARAGÓ (Barcelona, 1954).
Untitled. ca. 1980's.
Iron with patina.
Published work.
Measurements: 29 x 33 x 12 cm.

Since the eighties, when Riera i Aragó found his own path, it bifurcated through two spaces, the seabed and the cosmos, which he imagined respectively furrowed by precarious submarines and zeppelins. The piece shown here is part of the "poetic machinism" that has been shaping a huge personal universe. Often, as on this occasion, they are objects whose aesthetic is related to that of the submerged wreck, coated with an ancient patina that speaks to us of a forgotten past, or perhaps of a not so fateful future.

Painter and sculptor, Josep Riera i Aragó studied at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. He made his individual debut in 1981, at the Artema gallery in Barcelona. Two years later he participated in the Salón de Otoño of the same city, and since then he has shown his work all over the world, in outstanding galleries in Spain, Mexico, Holland, Israel, Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Colombia and the United States. His solo exhibitions have been held at the Museum of Ceret (France, 1989), the National Library of Paris (1993), the Museum of Modern Art in Oostende (Belgium, 1997), the Joan Prats Gallery in New York (1998), the Tassende Gallery in Los Angeles (2003) and the Museum of Aalst in Belgium (2006), among others. Since 1983, Riera i Aragó has developed his plastic discourse around machinism, with a symbolic language marked by an interest in air and maritime transport, which he contemplates decontextualized, separated from their original function. At the same time, his plastic language has been enriched by the deepening of the line/plane and empty/full dialogue. Never repetitive, each "machine" he creates evokes, without pathos or condescension, a clear and comprehensive vision of humanity. His work presents a fertile iconography loaded with meaning that, endowed with a clear irony, speaks of the absurd recklessness of man's creations and the poetic justice that results when these creations turn against him. His work can be found in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Joan Miró, La Caixa and Vicent Van Gogh foundations, the Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg, the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico, the Ceret and Reattu Museum in Arles, France, the Otani Museum in Japan and the Heilbronn Museum in Germany, among many others.