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Art

Art

Jaume Plensa: Echo

Jaume Plensa 8
Past Exhibition

Jaume Plensa: Echo

May 5 – August 14, 2011
Past Exhibition

Jaume Plensa: Echo

May 5 – August 14, 2011
Jaume Plensa 8

Towering forty-feet above the central Oval Lawn, Jaume Plensa’s Echo is a monumental sculpture that depicts the head of a nine-year-old girl from the artist’s Barcelona neighborhood. The work, marking Plensa’s New York City public space debut, is made of resin, steel and coated in white marble dust. Echo, a mountain nymph in Greek mythology, was cursed by the goddess Hera. As a result, she was unable to speak, except for the last words uttered by another person. 

The calm of Plensa’s Echo offers a quiet counterpoint to the voices of the thousands of daily visitors to Madison Square Park. A child with her eyes closed and her mouth poised, the looming sculpture conveys peaceful, dream-like introspection with the surreal air of disquietude. Drawing on Surrealism’s links to his work, the artist has said that “the beauty of art is that your dreams must be shared with others, but first you must dream.” Plensa is closely identified today with his practice of creating outsized portrait heads of those in his community in Barcelona. He realizes their likenesses and then, with computer technology and sophisticated fabrication techniques, transforms each individual as a collective figure of the human condition.

  • About the artist
    Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) was born in Barcelona where he lives and works. Plensa studied at Llotja School of Art and Design and at Sant Jordi School of Fine Art in the 1970s.

    He has been a professor and lecturer at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist has received Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (1993), honorary doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), and Velazquez Prize (2013). Plensa’s works are included in the collections of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid.

    Read more about the artist
  • About the artist
    Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) was born in Barcelona where he lives and works. Plensa studied at Llotja School of Art and Design and at Sant Jordi School of Fine Art in the 1970s.

    He has been a professor and lecturer at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist has received Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (1993), honorary doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), and Velazquez Prize (2013). Plensa’s works are included in the collections of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid.

    Read more about the artist

Towering forty-feet above the central Oval Lawn, Jaume Plensa’s Echo is a monumental sculpture that depicts the head of a nine-year-old girl from the artist’s Barcelona neighborhood. The work, marking Plensa’s New York City public space debut, is made of resin, steel and coated in white marble dust. Echo, a mountain nymph in Greek mythology, was cursed by the goddess Hera. As a result, she was unable to speak, except for the last words uttered by another person. 

The calm of Plensa’s Echo offers a quiet counterpoint to the voices of the thousands of daily visitors to Madison Square Park. A child with her eyes closed and her mouth poised, the looming sculpture conveys peaceful, dream-like introspection with the surreal air of disquietude. Drawing on Surrealism’s links to his work, the artist has said that “the beauty of art is that your dreams must be shared with others, but first you must dream.” Plensa is closely identified today with his practice of creating outsized portrait heads of those in his community in Barcelona. He realizes their likenesses and then, with computer technology and sophisticated fabrication techniques, transforms each individual as a collective figure of the human condition.

  • About the artist
    Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) was born in Barcelona where he lives and works. Plensa studied at Llotja School of Art and Design and at Sant Jordi School of Fine Art in the 1970s.

    He has been a professor and lecturer at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist has received Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (1993), honorary doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), and Velazquez Prize (2013). Plensa’s works are included in the collections of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid.

    Read more about the artist
  • Exhibition Catalogue
    Jaume Plensa: Echo
    Download PDF
  • Press Release
    Download PDF
  • About the artist
    Jaume Plensa (Spanish, b. 1955) was born in Barcelona where he lives and works. Plensa studied at Llotja School of Art and Design and at Sant Jordi School of Fine Art in the 1970s.

    He has been a professor and lecturer at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist has received Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (1993), honorary doctorate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), and Velazquez Prize (2013). Plensa’s works are included in the collections of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid.

    Read more about the artist
Image gallery
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
Jaume Plensa 7
Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 3
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Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 10
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Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
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Jaume Plensa 11
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Jaume Plensa 2
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 10
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Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
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Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
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Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
Jaume Plensa 7
Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
Jaume Plensa 7
Jaume Plensa 6
Jaume Plensa 11
Jaume Plensa 5
Jaume Plensa 4
Jaume Plensa 3
Jaume Plensa 10
Jaume Plensa 9
Jaume Plensa 8
Jaume Plensa 2
Jaume Plensa 1
Jaume Plensa 7
Jaume Plensa 6
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
  • Photo: James Ewing
Exhibition Support

Substantial Sponsorship for Echo is provided by MANGO, Tiffany & Co., and Galerie Lelong. Support for Echo is provided by Roberta and Michael Joseph, Toby Devan Lewis, Gerald Lippes and Jody Ulrich, Ronald A. Pizzuti, Danny and Audrey Meyer, Sorgente Group, Time Out New York, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ace Hotel New York, NYC & Company, and Anonymous patrons. Delta Air Lines is the official airline of the art program. This project is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The art program is made possible by the leadership and generosity of the many friends of the Madison Square Park Conservancy.

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