F R A N K L I N B O W L E S G A L L E R I E S SAN FRANCISCO
765/799 Beach Street San Francisco CA 94109 349 Geary Street San Francisco CA 94102 415.441.8008 / 800.926.9535 NEW YORK
431 West Broadway New York NY 10012 212.226.1616 / 800.926.9537
www.franklinbowlesgallery.com
AgustĂ Puig : Recent Work
Agustí Puig : Recent Work FRANKLIN BOWLES GALLERIES SAN FRANCISCO | NEW YORK
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Female mixed media on paper 100 x 70 cm, 39 x 27 inches 2014
Franklin Bowles Galleries is delighted to introduce the work of the prominent Spanish artist, Agustí Puig. In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, we will be featuring Puig’s work in our New York Gallery concurrent with his prestigious one-man exhibition at the Can Framis Museum in Barcelona (September 2014 – February 2015). Born in 1957, Puig is a renowned painter, sculptor and printmaker from Sabadell, Spain who has been exhibiting internationally for 25 years. The Can Framis Museum consists of more than 300 works by a wide-range of artists born or living in Catalonia from the 1960s to the present. It is part of the Vila Casas Foundation which opened in 1986 to promote and highlight the leading artists of Spain from this period. The founder, pharmaceutical entrepreneur Antoni Vila Casas, is a long-time supporter of Puig; he has placed many of Puig’s most significant paintings, including several that are monumental, in the museum’s permanent collection. This comprehensive compilation of work spans Puig’s entire oeuvre. Puig’s many career credits include being honored as a finalist with the XXIV International Drawing Prize from the Joan Miró Foundation and designing both a postage stamp and a poster for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. His work has been featured in numerous museums, including the Museu D’Art de Sabadell, Spain, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, the Colleccio Testimoni La Caixa Foundation, Pollenca, Spain and the Museu D’Art Modern De Tarragona, Spain. The work of Agustí Puig follows a direction related to Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró and Jean DuBuffet and he is certainly in dialogue with the foremost Spanish artist Antoni Tàpies as well as the Art Informal Movement of Post-War Spain. Painting in a style known as pintura matèrica, in which non-traditional art materials are incorporated, Puig’s art has alchemicaltransformative qualities for both the artist and viewer. The thick and almost brutal application of paint, administered by the artist as though in a trance-like state, speaks to the studio as a Zen temple and painting as a means of freedom through physical expression. With Puig there is an internal dialogue apparent which questions the universe around oneself. Much as the American Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s discovered themselves in their painting, so the artists of COBRA in the Netherlands, and Gutai in Japan, found art a liberating media that enabled them to discuss issues that they could not, or were reluctant to put into words. Scraping and scarring the canvases, dripping and working with brooms as paint brushes, these very physical methods free the painter and give him a more child-like and authentic approach to the creative process. Puig is an “action painter” in the spirit of Jackson Pollock, Sam Francis, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner and Joan Mitchell. Our Anniversary has been a time for reflection on the close connection our galleries have maintained with Spain and the city of Barcelona over the past four decades — from our early representation of the Spanish Masters of the 20th Century: Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso, to our 20 years of fruitful collaboration with contemporary Spanish artist Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, and more recently with the emerging talent of Miquel Gelabert. We’re extremely pleased to now represent a Spanish artist who has built and maintained an active and powerful presence for more than two decades in Spain and throughout Europe. For our first exhibition, we’ve assembled an important group of paintings and works on paper by Puig showcasing his dynamic and expressive treatment of the human figure. It is with great pleasure that we open our inaugural exhibition for this immensely talented artist. Franklin Bowles 2
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Untitled I mixed media on paper 100 x 70 cm, 39 x 27 inches 2014
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Untitled Ill mixed media on paper 100 x 70 cm, 39 x 27 inches 2014
Untitled ll mixed media on paper 100 x 70 cm, 39 x 27 inches 2014
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Untitled IV mixed media on paper 100 x 70 cm, 39 x 27 inches 2013
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Untitled V mixed media on canvas 100 x 122 cm,39 x 47.5 inches 2013
Untitled XI mixed media on canvas 90 x 122 cm, 35 x 47.5 inches 2014
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Untitled XII mixed media on canvas 84 x 132 cm, 33 x 51 inches 2014
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Untitled VI mixed media on canvas 122 x 89 cm, 47.5 x 35 inches 2013
Untitled VII mixed media on canvas 122 x 89 cm, 47.5 x 35 inches 2014
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Untitled XIV mixed media on canvas 150 x 122 cm, 58.8 x 47.5 inches 2013
Untitled VIII mixed media on canvas 122 x 89 cm, 47.5 x 35 inches 2014
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Untitled IX mixed media on canvas 122 x 115 cm, 47.5 x 45 inches 2014
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Untitled XX mixed media on canvas 170 x 122 cm, 66 x 47.5 inches 2013
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Untitled XV mixed media on canvas 160 x 133 cm, 62 x 52 inches 2013
Untitled XVI mixed media on canvas 160 x 122 cm, 62 x 47.5 inches 2010
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Couple I mixed media on canvas 122 x 160 cm, 47.5 x 62 inches 2013
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Seated Mathematician mixed media on canvas 162 x 130 cm, 63 x 51 inches 2014
Woman and two Figures mixed media on canvas 170 x 122 cm., 66 x 47.5 inches 2014
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Untitled XXIV mixed media on canvas 100 x 200 cm, 39 x 78 inches 2014
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Untitled XVII mixed media on canvas 160 x 122 cm, 62 x 47.5 inches 2013
Untitled XVIII mixed media on canvas 180 x 122 cm, 70 x 47.5 inches 2014
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Couple II mixed media on canvas 170 x 133 cm, 66 x 52 inches 2013
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Untitled XXI mixed media on canvas 172 x 121 cm, 67 x 47 inches 2014
Untitled XIII mixed media on canvas 122 x 97 cm, 47.5 x 38 inches 2013
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Untitled XXIII mixed media on canvas 162 x 260 cm, 63 x 101 inches 2013
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Untitled XXII mixed media on canvas 146 x 228 cm, 57 x 89 inches 2013
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Figure with Hands Crossed mixed media on canvas 180 x 122 cm, 70 x 47.5 inches 2014
The Venuses mixed media on canvas 135 x 122 cm, 53 x 47.5 inches 2013
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Untitled XIX mixed media on canvas 150 x 122 cm, 58.8 x 47.5 inches 2014
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INDEX
Menina mixed media on canvas 65 x 54 cm, 25 x 21 inches 2012
page title
14 18 1 23 24 14 4 5 4 6 6 9 9 10 10 7 8 19 11 13 13 17 17 23 12 18 21 20 16 22 15
Couple I Couple II Female Figure with Hands Crossed Menina Seated Mathematician Untitled I Untitled II Untitled III Untitled IV Untitled V Untitled VI Untitled VII Untitled VIII Untitled IX Untitled XI Untitled XII Untitled XIII Untitled XIV Untitled XV Untitled XVI Untitled XVII Untitled XVIII Untitled XIX Untitled XX Untitled XXI Untitled XXII Untitled XXIII Untitled XXIV The Venuses Woman and two Figures
Project Manager: Stacey Bellis Photography: Dani Rovira-Soler Catalog Design: Susan Tsuchiya
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F R A N K L I N B O W L E S G A L L E R I E S SAN FRANCISCO
765/799 Beach Street San Francisco CA 94109 349 Geary Street San Francisco CA 94102 415.441.8008 / 800.926.9535 NEW YORK
431 West Broadway New York NY 10012 212.226.1616 / 800.926.9537
www.franklinbowlesgallery.com
AgustĂ Puig : Recent Work