Joan Furriols (Vic, 1937). Chance and dedication to materials and their transformation are the guiding principles of the extended creative career of Furriols. His work can be linked to various branches of visual study, although he has always had his own artistic character, grounded in a subtle aesthetic of doubt, freedom and non-imposition.
Furriols appropriates objects, which at first might seem artistically banal, such as funnels, bottles, flasks, glasses, tubes, pots, cans and lids, along with many other kinds of objects, such as cut-out fragments, moulds and pieces of clay. Later he came to add blocks of foam, while more recently he has used keys and cork stoppers, these latter with a use of colour that is unusual in his work, previously characterized by brown and grey tones.
The artist works using perforation, making cuts in wood, creating folds or simply setting up juxtapositions and confrontations between objects. They are small, subtle interventions that end up inciting significant conceptual transformations in relation to the objects. His work is formally small and fragile, resulting in pieces that evoke conceptual references, inviting us to observe in a concentrated way, always with the possibility of reflecting even deeper.
Furriols’ work is mature and honest, the fruit of a sincere labour that has persevered over time. When he was just 17 years old, in 1955, he participated in the 8th October Salon, part of the 3rd Biennale of Hispano-American Art, with the piece El galliner [The Chicken Coop]. The following year he was back with the piece Blanc i blau [White and Blue]. Finally, in 1957, at the 10th October Salon, all the artists who had previously participated were brought together, ending the project after its tenth year, enabling Furriols to share the galleries with distinguished artists like Ponç, Guinovart, Tàpies and De Sucre.
In those year, Furriols was quick to join in with the most advanced currents of the time. In the town of Vic, he was one of the founders of the journal Inquietud, which caught the attention of the Barcelona avant-garde. In Barcelona, in turn, he was active in non-official art circles of the moment. He participated in talks at the Cercle Maillol, the Institut Français of Barcelona and at activities organized by Club 49 (held at the Hot Club de Jazz), which sustained the legacy of the Associació d’Amics d’Art Nou [Association of Friends of New Art], from the period of the Second Republic.
It was in this way that he explored art informel painting at a time when the movement was booming, in response to the art officially recognized by the Franco regime, while also working with material-based painting. We should point out that in these areas he clearly set himself apart from Tàpies, even though he clearly admired him, studying his work for its significance in setting out a paradigm shift. Living his art this way, working in ways that were distanced from more official avenues, has been essential in enabling Furriols to lay out his own creative path, which in any case has not been far from, though clearly free from, the parameters set out by the great names of Catalan art of recent decades.
The 1950s and 1960s were a period of artistic expansion, though for Furriols it was a time to turn inwards towards a more intimate space, distancing himself from the world of galleries and exhibitions. It was a fundamental moment in forging his career, as it was the time he made the firm and particularly honest choice to not submit his art to the dictates of the market. During those years, he focused in on his work, making it possible to refine his art, while working continually and deepening and sharpening his focus, placing high demands on himself.
It was especially during the end of the 1980s when Furriols returned to the Catalan art scene. At that time, he undertook a path that decidedly brought him deserved recognition in the art world. Furriols defended his position as he was increasingly recognized (as was only fair) amongst the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century in Catalonia. For this reason, the exhibition we present here seeks to offer a journey through his creative trajectory, begun in the 1950s and lasting until our day.
Through the work presented here, Furriols can be seen as a fully coherent artist. He is true to the time he has lived in, while independent of it as well, as occurs so often with all classics. This exhibition is not presented chronologically, instead sustaining the view that Furriols’ work, as unified and solid as it is, is able to incite a dialogue with itself over the years, a corpus in perfect harmony with itself.