Antoni Tápies

Born in Barcelona in 1923 and died in the same place in 2012. Painter, sculptor and Spanish art theorist. He began studying law but in the forties decided to leave to pursue what he pleased: painting. He is particularly interested in studying the material as an artistic resource, giving a name to what is termed as "material informalism". He starts using textured fabrics intense because of its great expressive and communicative potential. In this situation, Tàpies begins to forge international recognition in the fifties. In the sixties he becomes concerned by new iconographic elements like writing signs, anthropomorphic elements and signs that relate to his next and most immediate development environment: Catalonia. During the late Francoism Tàpies has a critical position towards the regime through his creations, which take on a marked character of denunciation and protest. In this sense, the work of Tàpies has always been permeable to the social and political events of the time. For Tàpies art has been a center of interest from the beginning, in which he has been building and representing his concerns as a person. Tàpies also used recyclables for his artistic constructions and his work has sometimes been labeled with the term of art brut. Art Brut is an artistic movement that believes that our creative potential is diminished, in most cases, by the established social norms. It is characterized by the creation outside the academic, institutional and artistic currents of the moment where the main driving force leading to creation is the intrinsic motivation of the artist.