The poetics of space

It gives me great pleasure to introduce this presentation of the catalogue for a retrospective of work by an artist as significant as Pep Admetlla. The Poetics of Space, title of the show to be held at the Fundació Vila Casas Can Mario Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, will be a magnificent opportunity to enjoy his work spanning several creative periods from 1988 to late 2016.

I know the artist personally, from when he collaborated with cultural initiatives associated with the Girona city council while I was Mayor, and I have had the privilege of visiting his studio in Santa Eugènia de Ter, which occasioned newspapers to look for puns combining Eugènia and genius, which in itself gives an idea of Admetlla’s talent and creativity.

Art never ceases to surprise or impress us. It is always open to new view points and produces feelings that move us. This helps to make the figure of the artist seem somewhat distant, and Admetlla is not immune to this enigma. In some of his creations he combines stateof- the-art 3D modelling technology with the artisanal hand-crafting of wood and other materials. He, who seeks a quiet and slow-moving environment for artistic creation, is also a dynamic and tireless cultural activist, rethinking urban planning and possibilities for architecture. In short, he is forever displaying facets which, seemingly contradictory, end up configuring a whole, like the cosmological principle of yin and yang.

Similarly, I would also like to underline the uniqueness of his output, which juxtaposes architecture, sculpture, painting, anatomy and literature. This, one might say, authorial stamp is also related to another constant in his artistic output; that of research, prior experimentation, reflection and analysis. His is a broad and powerful output, as rich in interdisciplinarity as his training and vast CV which – and this is by no means an exhaustive list – covers sculpture, industrial design, architecture and history of art, as well as neuropsychopedagogy. It is the profile of a humanist, a Renaissance man who, on the fringes of limited academic orthodoxy, goes in search of the training required by his art which, in line with contemporary creation, knows no frontiers between disciplines.

It is within this conceptual framework, connected also with ephemeral architecture, that his transitable sculptures take on meaning. They are atemporal works that become spaces for interaction where that which the artist terms dissections come into play, these being memory, intuition, sensibility, and experience.

The work of Admetlla pulses with influences which have accompanied him throughout his life, those of Paul Valéry and Italo Calvino, as well as from people closer to home – Glòria Bosch, Quim Español, and Torres Monsó. I will finish by mentioning this last one and the impact the audiovisual Versus had on me. Pep Admetlla and his good friend Torres Monsó reenacted the legendary boxing match at the Barcelona Monumental bullring between the Swiss poet and pugilist Arthur Cravan and the world heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. The deeper significance of the project is to be read in the sense that art examines us in a combat against ourselves, as an unavoidable confrontation between reality and the role one plays. The death of Torres Monsó on 30 January 2015, just as I know he did in life, has influenced much of Admetlla’s latest work. So there it is; my eulogy to two artists from Santa Eugènia. And I wish the exhibition The Poetics of Space every success with its internationally known pieces which at the moment are appearing in the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó
President of the Government of Catalonia

Barcelona, October 2016