birth
Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain, 1954
death
Barcelona, Spain, 2001
last update
23-04-2025
Ramon Guillen-Balmes studied at the Escola Llotja and Escola Massana, Barcelona, and was professionally linked to the Grup Usquam collective and to the Escola Massana, where he taught until his premature death at the age of 47. His decidedly sculptural body of work is defined by an interest in wood and the colour white, and organic forms. Heavily influenced by the Dada spirit, he liked to work with found objects. His early works of the 1980s are mostly small maquettes, wind artefacts (his so-called Wind Panoplies), and aquatic artefacts designed to be moved by wind and water. Later, however, he began to create sculptures adapted to the bodies of different people, leading to the series of works titled Models d'ús and Arqueologies d'artista. While the former was formed by objects he created to fulfil the wishes entrusted to him by specific people, the latter consisted of installations composed with small objects made up of felt and wood. These are objects with forms that refer to the human body, but also to the notion of prosthesis, suggesting both pleasure and torture at the same time. The artist related them to formal research, inviting a reading between poetic and ironic.
He had solo exhibitions in galleries in Barcelona and other cities, and in spaces such as Château de Taurines d'Aveyron (1991), Palau Robert, Barcelona (1992), Musée de Valence (1993), Tours Narbonnaises, Carcassonne (1995), Col·legi d'Aparelladors, Barcelona (1997), CIRCA, Montreal (1999), and Sala H-AAC, Vic (2001). He had retrospectives at the Escola Massana, Barcelona (2012), and MAC Sales d'exposició de Can Palauet, Mataró (2016). His work is included in the collections of FRAC Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse; Museu d'Art, Granollers; FRAC Rhône-Alpes; CPAC Musée de Bordeaux; Fundació "la Caixa", Malmöhus Museum, Malmö; and MACBA, Barcelona, among others.
He had solo exhibitions in galleries in Barcelona and other cities, and in spaces such as Château de Taurines d'Aveyron (1991), Palau Robert, Barcelona (1992), Musée de Valence (1993), Tours Narbonnaises, Carcassonne (1995), Col·legi d'Aparelladors, Barcelona (1997), CIRCA, Montreal (1999), and Sala H-AAC, Vic (2001). He had retrospectives at the Escola Massana, Barcelona (2012), and MAC Sales d'exposició de Can Palauet, Mataró (2016). His work is included in the collections of FRAC Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse; Museu d'Art, Granollers; FRAC Rhône-Alpes; CPAC Musée de Bordeaux; Fundació "la Caixa", Malmöhus Museum, Malmö; and MACBA, Barcelona, among others.
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