BRUSSELS.- As part of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Antoni Tąpies (1923-2012), Bozar presents the most important Tąpies retrospective in almost 20 years. The exhibition, organised by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofķa, Madrid, in collaboration with Bozar and the Fundació Antoni Tąpies, offers a comprehensive overview of Tąpies' work, comprising more than 120 paintings, drawings and sculptures.

After his self-portraits and works influenced by Surrealism and Dadaism, the exhibition displays Tąpies' first “matierist” paintings, produced in the 1950s, which incorporate raw materials, marks and signs. But beyond the artist’s experimentation with form and material, which continued throughout his career, the visitor can also penetrate the mystical, philosophical and political dimensions of the Tąpies universe. Manuel Borja-Villel is the curator of this first Tąpies retrospective in Belgium in almost 40 years. This exhibition, which opens the Tąpies Year ("Any Tąpies"), has its European premiere at Bozar and will then travel to Madrid, at the Reina Sofķa Museum, and to Barcelona, at the Fundació Antoni Tąpies.

In the autumn of 2023, Bozar is devoting a major retrospective to Antoni Tąpies (1923-2012), a key figure in post-war modern art. The exhibition begins with Tąpies' early drawings and self-portraits and continues with the “matter paintings” of the 1950s and the objects and assemblages of the 1960s and 1970s.

This was followed by the varnish paintings of the 1980s, which he had begun a few years earlier during the early days of democracy in Spain. The exhibition also presents works from the 1990s, during which Tąpies continued his formal and material experimentation that had always been at the heart of his practice.

Often associated with “matierism” or “informal art”, Tąpies' artistic practice was based on gesture and the use of modest and unconventional materials on canvas. He used sand, string, dust, hair or straw, suggesting that beauty can be found in the small, unexpected and everyday.

“Sometimes my work pays tribute to insignificant objects: paper, cardboard, rubbish...”, Tąpies explained. The artist's hand intervened, according to the critic Jacques Dupin, to “gather them up and save them from abandonment, fatigue, being torn, from the ravages of man and of time.”1

Tąpies managed to create an infinite number of textures and reliefs on his pictorial supports, which he also called “walls” (in reference to his family name. Tąpies means “walls” in Catalan). He also incorporated new materials, such as latex, emulsion and tar, applied in thick layers, which he scratched, slashed and hollowed out. Thus the painting became a “battlefield” where hand-to-hand contact with the material is palpable and makes the work three- dimensional. In these thick pastes, Tąpies inscribed and incised graphic and symbolic signs: triangles, circles, crosses that evoke archaeological, mystical or historical references.

For the artist, these walls are like “talismans”, with great evocative power: “Everything unfolds in a much wider field than the one delimited by the format or the material content of the painting. The latter is, in fact, merely a support that leads the viewer to the infinitely wider game of a thousand and one visions, of a thousand and one feelings [...] The ‘subject’ can therefore be in the painting or simply in the viewer's head.”2

Therefore, his work is not only a study of matter but also explores the perception of reality and human nature. At the same time, Tąpies' art is intimately linked to the history and politics of his country, which was affected by the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and Franco's regime.

“If I paint the way I paint, first of all it’s because I am Catalan. But, like so many others, I am affected by the political drama of Spain as a whole”, wrote Tąpies. “In my painting I want to inscribe all my country’s difficulties, even if I cause displeasure: suffering, painful experiences, prison, a gesture of revolt. Art must live the truth.”3

The centenary of Tąpies invites us to take stock of an oeuvre that resists decryption. The intellectual halo that surrounds it is permeated with discourses on the history of science, the mysticism of Eastern religions and political philosophy. A self-taught artist of the post-war period, Tąpies reflected on the human condition, his own historical context and artistic practice, in particular the limits and contradictions of painting. His prolific oeuvre is scattered throughout the world. The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Bozar Books. The book includes texts by Antoni Tąpies and Manuel Borja-Villel, curator of the exhibition.

1 Antoni Tąpies, La pratique de l’art, Gallimard, 1971, p. 91.
2 Ibid, p. 208.
3 Ibid, p. 85-87.

Bozar
Antoni Tąpies: The Practice of Art
September 15th, 2023 - January 07th, 2024

‘Lunch Tours’: Fancy a culture sandwich? Then come along to Bozar! Every Friday lunchtime we’re serving up an hour of culture. In the space of 45 minutes a guide uncovers a few highlights of the exhibition. The guide selects five key works which form an interesting introduction to the story of the exhibition. Do you work near Bozar and fancy getting your teeth stuck into a bite-sized chunk of culture with friends or colleagues during your lunch break? Then why not join the Lunch Tour where you will be transported to another world.

Friday 22 September, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 29 September, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 13 October, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 3 November, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 24 November, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 15 December, 12:30 → 13:15
Friday 5 January, 12:30 → 13:15