Antoni Tàpies: recent works, February 19-March 20, 1993

The work of Antoni Tapies offers a unique case of the artist-as-shaman--that is, the artist as an alchemist who is capable of discovering the nature of materials, transforming their substance, and bringing meaning to life. A self-taught painter, Tapies began his career in the lively and exciting period directly following World War II: in 1947 he founded, along with Joan Brossa, the journal ''Dau al Set,'' which championed Surrealist aesthetics. Drawing upon the latter, Tapies created a Spanish analogue to the so-called Abstract Expressionism of the New York School, combining the techniques and forms of "action painting" with his own deep sense of human pathos. As time went by, Tapies increasingly incorporated social themes into his work, achieving a rare and impassioned mix of experimental painting and politics. This new monograph surveys the artist's career from the late 1940s to the present day, selecting works that show the diversities and unities within the artist's consistently rewarding oeuvre. What we find is an artist who has always questioned and challenged our ways of seeing art and the world, and in the process, created true masterpieces.