A little blurry, as I caught it from the train.
I am a huge fan of Plensa, and have had the honour of seeing his work in various countries, and we also have a piece of his here in Toronto.
Born in 1955 in Barcelona, Plensa studied at the Llotja School of Art and Design and at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Art. Since 1980, the year of his first exhibition in Barcelona, he has lived and worked in Berlin, Brussels, England, France and the United States, as well as in the Catalan capital. He has taught at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris and has regularly served as a guest professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Source is installed at the main entrance to downtown Montréal, in a landscaped terrace at the intersection of Boulevard Robert-Bourassa and Rue Wellington. The stainless-steel sculpture consists of a random intertwining of letters taken from Latin, Greek, Chinese, Arab, Cyrillic, Hindi, Hebrew, and Japanese alphabets, combined to form a monumental figure in a sitting position. The work is an allegory for humanity: like cells are assembled to form the human body, the letters form words, and people form a community. Source represents the wealth of cultures that Montréal has welcomed during its almost four centuries of existence. A symbol of the city’s past, present, and future, Source, seen in the light of day or under its night-time lighting, invites residents to walk, dream, and meet.
By creating Source for the 375th anniversary of the foundation of Montréal, the artist wanted to take into account the importance of water in the city’s history – for trade, immigration, and communications – but also the importance of the place of Indigenous peoples. Source, a word that is identical in French and English, refers to the birthplace of a watercourse, but also represents the roots of a city’s energy and vitality: its inhabitants and their origins, the fluidity and creativity of ideas, and the cycles of movement and renewal.
...on a grand scale.
ReplyDeleteA fantastic sculpture! The artist's thoughts and skills that went into creating Source are impressive. Thank you for your public art share.
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