Drawing Visit: Antoni Tàpies: The Imagination of the World with Oriol Vilapuig

With what specificities does drawing operate in the formation of an image? What happens if we shift the focus of attention from the drawing to the one who draws, from the object to the action that produces it? Can we also interpret an image with our body?

We propose a visit in which drawing and, by extension, our body will lead us as a form of knowledge and connection. We will explore the work of Antoni Tàpies through the language of drawing, as an original and specific gesture. An action that produces an image through a filter, the body, which is extremely complex, fragile and sensitive. We will think of drawing as based on the bodily movements that produce friction between the support and the materials, in specific temporal and spatial conditions that generate an image as a result. This image, however specific and symbolic it may be, also describes a body that generates friction. Thus, drawing could be understood as a map, a cartography of gestures and behaviours, a sensory record shared between two bodies: that of an author who creates and activates it and that of a receiver who collects it with their own body, seeing as they also recognise themselves in the gestures that produced it.

We invite you to take part in a drawing activity where we will think through activating the frictions that are inherent in the gestation of an image through the work of Antoni Tàpies, based on material approaches such as gesture, speed, friction and matter, yet understanding them as a state linked to its emotional, political and spiritual conditions. A hands-on activity that invites us to explore the work of Antoni Tàpies through the language of drawing and its performative potential.

Oriol Vilapuig Morera (Sabadell, 1964)

Visual artist who mainly works with the language of drawing, his practice involves an essayistic approach. The question of images, their possibilities and rules, as well as their ways of appearing, are a constant in his work. His work also expands into the field of teaching through the performative possibilities of drawing and its modes of use. He teaches workshops as a lecturer in the Fine Arts degree at BAU – Centre Universitari d’Arts i Disseny de Barcelona and at Illa – Escola d’Art i Disseny de Sabadell. He has exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions. His work is part of several collections and has received critical acclaim.