The image of the work is not available online.

Lavabo, 1989

Toilet, 1989
Object, 3.5 x 24 x 31 cm

I began doing literary poetry from every possible angle, then came visual poetry and the object poems. I started doing visual poetry when I felt I needed to go beyond the book as a support. It was a similar experience to the one I had with the theatre in the 1940s. It was an unusual combination of words, actors and curtains that gave me what I missed in a poem: movement. It is a fact that to obtain the maximum of possibilities you must aim at the impossible.

Are there any particular influences in your work?

Nothing comes out of nothing. I have some affinities, but I’ve never been inspired by other people’s poems. A painting by Miró or Picasso can, at times, inspire me more than literature. I also like storytelling because it goes back to the roots, to questions of identity.

To participate in a visual poem, does one need a special perception or a simple willingness to be receptive?

Some people will never understand painting just as I, for instance, will never understand the machinations of the economy. On the other hand, some people can understand Miró but can’t understand Foix, when one leads to the other. The problem is that, unlike literature, painting has a financial dimension. Poetry doesn’t make money so it’s not ruled by the market.

Garcia Riera, Joan: ‘Joan Brossa ha dedicat un poema visual a Badalona: el poeta ha acceptat fer una obra per encàrrec de “Reactivació Badalona”’, Revista de Badalona, no. 2830 (6 November 1987), pp. 20–21


Technical details

Original title:
Lavabo
Registration number:
4896
Artist:
Brossa, Joan
Date created:
1989
Date acquired:
2011
Fonds:
MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
Object type:
Object
Media:
Mirror, plastic and ceramics
Dimensions:
3.5 x 24 x 31 cm (height x width x depth)
Edition number:
Ed. 2/4
Credits:
MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium. Joan Brossa Fund. Long-term loan of Fundació Joan Brossa
Copyright:
© Fundació Joan Brossa, VEGAP, Barcelona
It has accessibility resources:
No

The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.

For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.

If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.