ROOMS 1 & 2
LÍDIA MASLLORENS
— Artist’s Proof
Chance is my greatest ally. I have brushes, paper, paint and chance.
Lídia Masllorens
Lídia Masllorens (Caldes de Malavella, 1967) expresses herself artistically with very simple and limited tools: tons of recycled paper (made specifically for her), black acrylic wall paint, a good handful of brooms, cloths and rags, metres of thin sheets of plastic, and a good dose of chance.
To hear her explain her work process is fascinating, seeing as she conveys pure dedication. One can imagine her creating between the huge walls of her studio in Cassà de la Selva (Girona), gesticulating the first brush strokes on the plastic sheets stapled to the wall, drying the water from each piece of paper before printing on it, soaking cloths and thick brushes in black paint, dancing barefoot on the unfinished composition that lies on the ground, totally surrendered to her hands... And we visualise how she shapes eyes, fills in hair and synthesises shapes with broad movements. Lídia Masllorens always seeks minimalism in forms—this is her personal definer.
It’s been almost thirty years of dedication in search of the opportunities that have allowed her to make the leap towards professionalisation. More than twenty years as a secondary school art teacher. Studies in fine arts, photography, engraving and sculpture. Exhibitions in Girona and Barcelona. Passion and devotion. All that until a few years ago. Now, the scenario is quite different.
In 2013 Lídia Masllorens received the Vila Casas Foundation Painting Award, and this has allowed her to get to where she most sincerely desired to be. An opportunity dreamed of over and over. Since 2016, her work has been exhibited in prestigious international galleries and fairs in places such as Paris, London, Los Angeles, Denmark, Belgium and Japan.
Lídia Masllorens offers us close-ups of faces in large format created on paper. She explains that, when she was younger, she used to go around Barcelona with a camera hanging from her neck, taking countless photographs. Eventually she realised that she was repeating the same theme: the faces of people on the street. Over time she decided to transfer that concept to painting.
However, the theme has experienced variations. At first, Lídia Masllorens tried to create portraits true to physical features. Later, she became attracted to the dramatic and theatrical dimension of emotions, and stemming from this interest began painting portraits of a more universal nature, because we are all emotional, we all gesticulate according to our feelings. Shortly after, the artist opted for a large format, driven by the need to portray with uncontrolled brush strokes, leaving aside the more cerebral and detailed dimension.
Her first large format piece was a portrait of Miquel Barceló, titled Miquel, which responded to her admiration for the Majorcan painter. But the piece that unveiled her personal technique was Maria, the monotype print portrait of a friends’ daughter. This type of printing produces unique and original works, since it doesn’t allow for the printing of multiple copies. In Lídia Masllorens’ case, she works and prints the papers on plastic surfaces, so that which carries out the function of the printing plate is rendered unusable after its first use. This method allows the artist to be faithful to her way of painting: gestural, free and in large format.
The title of this exhibition looks to convey the characteristic values of artist’s proofs: the courage and experimentation they require, and which they embrace for having been created without fear, seeing as they are not definitive works. Their creation is based on a luminous and inclusive feeling of freedom, which is exactly what Lídia Masllorens feels both vitally and professionally at the stage she’s in.
The exhibition is structured in three parts: two of them gather large format works on paper, dedicated to faces, while the third collects various photographs.
The first two are divided into separate concepts: the pieces in Portrait seek an accurate resemblance of the model, and their titles are the first name of the person portrayed. On the other hand, in No Portrait we find untitled works that convey gestural and emotional spontaneity. Photographs taken by the artist, as well as images found in publications and social networks, are the sources of inspiration for these faces.
Finally, Zoom displays a series of photographs that stem from the abstract microcosms that Lídia Masllorens discovers in the details of her work. In some cases, these details remind her of familiar forms, such as the lips one can see in the series. These are unpublished creations resulting from the moment of experimentation that Lídia Masllorens is currently experiencing, now that she’s about to fulfil her dream.