Josep Maria Riera i Aragó

JOSEP MARIA RIERA I ARAGÓ (Barcelona, 1954).
Untitled.
Etching and collage, copy 76/78.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 38 x 51 cm.

Painter and sculptor, Josep Riera i Aragó was formed in the Superior School of Fine Arts of Barcelona. He made his individual debut in 1981, in the Artema gallery in Barcelona. Two years later he participated in the Salón de Otoño in Barcelona, and since then he has shown his work all over the world, in leading 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 dialogue line/plane and empty/full. Never repetitive, each "machine" he creates evokes, without pathos or condescension, a clear and comprehensive vision of humanity. With a visual vocabulary limited to simple forms reminiscent of zeppelins, submarines or airplanes, Riera i Aragó develops 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 should be understood as a global story, which is related to languages as disparate as astronomy, botany, mathematics or mysticism, and which offers the viewer the possibility of entering a particular universe of great lyricism, where reality and fiction are no longer opposing categories. Riera i Aragó is currently represented in the Museum of Contemporary Art 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.