SANTIAGO CALATRAVA

Es Baluard Museu d'Art  Modern i Contemporani de Palma, coinciding with the third anniversary celebration, is presenting a major exhibition of the work of the Valencia-born architect Santiago Calatrava, one of the most relevant figures in world architecture. Co organized with Bancaja and curated by the art historian Boye Llorens, and Tomàs Llorens, formerly head curator of the Thyssen-Bornemizsa Collection, the aim of the exhibition is to present Calatrava as a creator of forms.

The exhibition is a project of major importance which will be also travelling to the Scuderie del Quirinale Museum in Rome and the Correr Museum in Venice. The selection includes the presentation of 63 drawings, 20 sculptures and 15 works of pottery, all of these exhibited for the first time in Spain. For Es Baluard, this anthology is especially relevant, because the objective of it is to invite spectators to make an in-depth discovery of the mental and plastic universe of a versatile creator, who has managed to unite architecture, engineering and artistic emotion by means of his work, which is both singular and personal. 
 
Calatrava plays on metamorphosis with drawing, architecture and sculpture, this latter genre one he has not ceased to practise since the beginning of his career. Although his sculptural works emerge essentially from the exploration of abstract forms, they maintain a close relationship to architecture. His numerous sketchbooks, studies and notes with a high level of improvisation enable one to discover spontaneous work, work of transformation. In all the languages he sustains a deep concern for aesthetics, beauty and elegance.
 
His creation should be essentially interpreted as a plastic experience that pursues the ideal of an integral work of art. To his exploration of the world of shapes and forms through architecture and sculpture, he has recently added a new field: ceramics. In the ceramic pieces he makes in Manises, Calatrava remains faithful to his sources of inspiration – the omnipresent human body and the world of nature – and to a certain degree, is more respectful of tradition in his ceramics than in his buildings or sculptures.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition will also coincide with the installation on terrace of a monumental 15 metre high sculpture entitled Bou, created by Santiago Calatrava specifically for this site, the aim being to make his work a new landmark on Palma’s seafront.

Location – Hall: Floor -1 / Aljub
Production: Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma and Bancaja
Itinerancy: Museo Scuderie del Quirinale de Roma.