Lectura 1998

Curator: Antoni Tàpies created this mixed-media work, "Lectura," in 1998. It embodies many elements common in his practice, including collage, matter painting, and relief. What catches your eye when you first look at it? Editor: It feels primal, like unearthed fragments from a forgotten rite. The heavy impasto suggests tactile rituals, doesn't it? Dark and muted, but punctuated by those assertive white glyphs. Curator: Absolutely. Tàpies, working in the Art Informel movement, was very interested in transforming humble, everyday materials into something profound. The texture isn't just surface decoration; it evokes the wear and tear of history, human touch. Editor: I’m drawn to that central shape, what appears to be a highly textured, almost sculpted form suggesting a figure. Yet the figure also melts into inscription, something literary or linguistic, especially juxtaposed to that white, rather hastily sketched “book.” The reading is then perhaps happening inside someone's head, taking a somatic route through the body. Curator: He's very attuned to materiality, repurposing discarded items and rough textures. Think about Spain during his formative years. The atmosphere of post-civil war Spain and the suppression of Catalan identity profoundly influenced his work and instilled it with a kind of visual protest. Tàpies often incorporates letters, symbols, and rudimentary forms, as you pointed out, blurring the lines between image and text. "Lectura", meaning "reading" in Spanish and Catalan, points toward a deeper reading beyond words on a page. It suggests an engagement with materiality, experience, and our own internal landscapes. Editor: It feels like an excavation site. The past isn't a linear narrative here. It is a sensory event. A lot like Tàpies’ life. Curator: And to confront that history, we have to do more than passively look; we need to feel it, and read its many layers. Editor: Indeed. An intense work, with much to consider about art-making and experiencing the traces of human history.