218 - JOAN CLARET COROMINAS (Barcelona, 1929–2014).

JOAN CLARET COROMINAS (Barcelona, 1929–2014). "Composition," ca. 1965. Etching on aluminum. With a label on the back from Sala Gaspar. The frame is damaged. Dimensions: 75 x 54 cm; 90 x 69 cm (frame). A self-taught painter, Joan Claret studied architecture beginning in 1947 and, starting in 1957, philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Barcelona. He was a member of the 0 Figura group, participating in the group’s exhibitions and in the publications it produced in collaboration with Sala Gaspar in Barcelona, such as “Homenaje informal a Velázquez,” “El objeto,” “Mural,” etc. He held his first solo exhibition in 1959 at the aforementioned gallery in Barcelona, and that same year he participated in the Salón de Mayo in Barcelona and the Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid. Since then, he has held solo exhibitions in Barcelona, Madrid, Geneva, Bogotá, and Munich, among other cities, and has participated in group exhibitions in Tokyo (1961), London (1962), Florida (1964), New York (1986 and 1987), and various cities in Spain. He was awarded the first Joan Miró Drawing Prize (1962). Joan Claret’s painting is defined by a conception of open spaces and forms, realized solely through composition, rhythm, and controlled organization. He thus creates a deeply personal, geometric expressionism in which white, black, and gray dominate. Within his personal visual language, color serves to accentuate those parts of the canvas that, according to the overall arrangement of the elements, the artist considers most important. Likewise, he uses light to lend depth and contrast to the different planes. However, it is the line that serves as the fundamental element of his work—an element he himself likens to the notes on a musical staff. In his own words, Claret does not intend to convey any extra-pictorial, social, or other kind of message; his work focuses on addressing aesthetic problems, spaces, and forms, based on a rational and deliberate process, far removed from improvisation and uncontrolled brushstrokes. In his visual language, all secondary elements are superfluous, since he always seeks, above all, to achieve the utmost simplicity, where everything is elementary, essential, and necessary, and where everything—even the smallest element—is justified. Joan Claret’s work is currently represented, among other venues, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the MNAC in Barcelona, and in collections such as those of the BBVA, the Fundació Vila Casas, the Juan March Foundation, the Carmen and Lluís Bassat Collection, and notable private collections.