{"id":3384,"date":"2026-09-20T09:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/at-gray-chicago-jaume-plensas-beyond-silence-meets-a-new-york-counterpart\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T09:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:01:41","slug":"at-gray-chicago-jaume-plensas-beyond-silence-meets-a-new-york-counterpart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/at-gray-chicago-jaume-plensas-beyond-silence-meets-a-new-york-counterpart\/","title":{"rendered":"At GRAY Chicago, Jaume Plensa\u0019s \u0018Beyond Silence\u0019 meets a New York counterpart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At GRAY Chicago, Catalan artist and sculptor <strong>Jaume Plensa<\/strong> unveils <em>Beyond Silence<\/em>, a focused presentation anchored by two monumental wooden reliefs, <strong>Julia<\/strong> and <strong>Maria<\/strong>. Measuring <strong>28 feet wide<\/strong> and <strong>seven feet tall<\/strong>, these paneled works translate the artist\u0019s preoccupations with the human figure, architectural materials, and the perception of space into a commanding, room-shaping cadence. The show marks Plensa\u0019s <strong>tenth solo exhibition with GRAY<\/strong> and coincides with <em>Remote, Serene, Ethereal<\/em>, opening next week at the gallery\u0019s New York location. <strong>Both exhibitions are on view through December 19.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The two reliefs belong to Plensa\u0019s recent <em>Beyond Silence<\/em> series and are realized in <strong>wood and steel<\/strong>. Their broad, rigid angles organize the open gallery into measured intervals that offset the softened contours of the faces they depict. The works\u0019 dimensions are specified at <strong>85 3\u00057 \u0000d7 339 1\u00054 \u0000d7 41 1\u00054 inches<\/strong>, a scale that turns the wall into both support and subject. Around them, viewers encounter dramatically elongated faces that rise to <strong>seven feet high<\/strong>, part of Plensa\u0019s <strong>Clouds<\/strong> series. In these sculptures, the artist pairs <strong>cast iron<\/strong> with the suavity of <strong>granite stone<\/strong>, \u001c<strong>producing an unexpected sense of suspension and weightlessness<\/strong>,\u001d the gallery says.<\/p>\n<p>With their eyes closed, the large faces encourage an intimate encounter despite their size, drawing attention inward. Together, the pairing of dense architectural matter and serene portraiture underscores Plensa\u0019s ongoing dialogue between mass and emotion, structure and stillness. The result is a gallery experience that balances heft with hush, inviting time for introspection, meditation, and shared humanity.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">Chicago and New York in concert<\/h2>\n<p><em>Beyond Silence<\/em> in Chicago unfolds alongside <em>Remote, Serene, Ethereal<\/em> in New York, aligning two presentations under GRAY\u0019s banner. While the Chicago installation spotlights the paneled reliefs and the elongated heads, the parallel New York opening extends the moment across cities and audiences. For those in Chicago, Plensa\u0019s presence in the city also includes the iconic <strong>Crown Fountain<\/strong> at <strong>Millennium Park<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Together, the exhibitions emphasize how scale and material can reframe space and attention\u0014from the disciplined geometry of wood and steel to the tactile dialogue of cast iron and granite stone\u0014and affirm the longstanding relationship between the artist and GRAY.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>V\u00eda <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/09\/jaume-plensa-beyond-silence\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thisiscolossal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At GRAY Chicago, Jaume Plensa\u0019s Beyond Silence centers on two monumental wood-and-steel reliefs, Julia and Maria, each measuring 28 feet wide and seven feet tall, alongside elongated faces from the Clouds series in cast iron and granite stone. The exhibition marks Plensa\u0019s tenth solo with GRAY and coincides with Remote, Serene, Ethereal at the gallery\u0019s New York location; both are on view through December 19.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}