West Bretton, United Kingdom
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Jaume Plensa’s work provides an antidote to a capitalist world driven by economic principles that treat human beings as largely expendable commodities. In Plensa’s universe, man has the capacity to change the world for the better, and his ethereal figures punctuate our existence with hope. YSP provided a harmonious location for this kind of introspection, with families of works grouped in dialogue with each other and with the sweeping landscape. This exhibition—the most complete showing of Plensa’s work to date—offered a new context for his practice, which usually involves the placement of works in urban settings. Plensa’s work is driven by literary and philosophical sources. The cut steel figures in Silhouettes, a new sculpture specifically created for YSP’s gallery concourse, muse on the words of William Blake, Elias Canetti, and José Ángel Valente. These thoughts are made visible by snaking word formations that rise above their heads, giving physical presence to otherwise intangible concepts. …see the entire review in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
