Lleó (Lion)

Artist: Josep Puigmarti

Title: «Lleó»

Year: 1996

Media: mixed media on canvas

Edition: unique piece

Size: 250 x 200 cm

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In the 90s, Puigmarti confirms a change of style in his works that go from being based on the oeniric-erotic surrealism that he used between the 60’s and the 80’s, to delve into matter painting and collage.

Puigmarti shows us the portrait of a lion. For its execution, he uses, among others, the dripping and splashing technique. It is a large-format work, which gives an idea of the great technical capacity of the artist. A black stripe that ends in the shape of a musical note crosses the lion’s face from top to bottom, breaking the symmetry. This lack of symmetry is a constant in Puigmarti’s works, which sometimes gives a chaotic vision of his works.

In the works of the 90’s, the artist usuually resorts to the use of matter and collage. On this occasion, we see crumpled paper painted red adhered to the surface of the canvas. This is the only material area on the work, managing to texturize that area that contrasts by color and texture with the rest of the work. On the other hand, this red area together with the black stripe ends up by completely breaking the symmetry of the lion’s face.