Antoni Llena

ANTONI LLENA I FONT (Barcelona, 1943).
Untitled.
Manipulated paper.
Cardboard support.
Measurements: 74 x 98 cm; 80 x 110 cm (frame).

In this work, the author transfers the game of chromatic planes and dynamic forms typical of abstraction to a collage technique based on cut-outs. Thus, the planes are superimposed on the real plane, and the volumes and intermediate spaces are suggested through the subtle shadows, again real but equally enigmatic. Antoni Llena's work, "povera" but very rich in subtleties, has always been developed in a very intuitive way, attentive to the materials and their possibilities, without any authorial arrogance, working on a human scale.

Painter, sculptor, engraver and writer, Antoni Llena was a Capuchin monk until 1966, an experience that led him to meet artists of the stature of Antoni Tàpies and Albert Ràfols-Casamada, personalities with whom he maintained a close relationship. As a result, Llena kept in touch with different artists such as Jordi Galí, Silvia Guner or Algel Jové. He held his first exhibition in a Lleida gallery in 1969, an exhibition that consisted of the representation -and later drawing on the walls- of the shadows cast by his sculptures. Antoni Llena's work is related to arte povera, developing a conceptual art based on the use of basic materials and waste. Among his works stand out those located in public spaces in the city of Barcelona, such as "David and Goliath" (1992), "I'd rather not" (2002) and "World" (2004) and "Homage to the castellers" (2012). Throughout his career, Llena has worked as a professor of artistic literature at the University of Girona and has led workshops for the School of Visual Arts in New York.