Robert Llimós dies, the artist outside of labels who portrayed aliens

BarcelonaThe painter and sculptor Robert Llimós died this Tuesday at the age of 83, as confirmed by family sources to ARA. Son of the painter Camil Llimós, Robert Llimós studied at the Escola Massana and the Escola Superior de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, in Barcelona. During the sixties, he began in the new figuration movement, together with renowned artists such as Eduard Arranz-Bravo, Rafael Bartolozzi and Gerard Sala. Later on, between 1969 and 1973, he experimented with conceptual art, abstract forms and artistic actions. In fact, the Can Framis museum of the Vila Casas Foundation will inaugurate an exhibition on November 10th of this stage of his career, which is the most represented in museums, such as the MACBA and the Reina Sofia Museum.

Llimós defined himself as an artist outside of any label and in constant evolution. "A painter must never do what people expect of him. His work must constantly shock and surprise when observing his evolution," he asserted. One of the constants of his career is social criticism, as can be seen in works from the 60s such as Can Carreté and Figuera. In the 70s, Llimós returned to figuration and conveyed protest through a violent use of color, as can be seen in Sitting Bull, a critique of the disappearance of indigenous communities. His committed character did not abandon him, and in the 90s Llimós painted Fragment ruandès, in which innocent goats bear witness to the genocide in Rwanda. The artist recovered social criticism in the monumental triptych Metamorfosi, with which he denounced the use of weapons of mass destruction and the anxieties generated after the 9/11 attacks in New York. In 1994 he received the Plastic Arts Award of the Generalitat de Catalunya

Between 1975 and 1983 Llimós lived in New York, and between 1987 and 1988 he settled in Miami. Another moment in his career is the Globulins series, developed between 2004 and 2008, in which spherical forms float in indefinite color spaces. The last 17 years of his career were marked by the fact that he claimed to have come into contact with extraterrestrials, to whom he dedicated numerous portraits that did not have commercial success but which he exhibited, for example, at La Fortalesa, the old military fortification of Sant Julià de Ramis. Llimós explained that he had spotted a spaceship and some aliens on the beach of Fortaleza, in Brazil. Some critics pointed out that the sighting could have to do with the death of his son, a theory that the artist dismissed.

The public sculptor side

Llimós created several public sculptures in the city of Barcelona:Miraestels (2010), two sculptures at the Port Vell; Marc(1997), in the Vila Olímpica, a tribute to his son who died a year earlier, andOnes (1987), at the Bosch i Alsina pier, in the port of Barcelona. He also participated in events such as the São Paulo Biennial (1967 and 1969), Documenta 5 (Kassel, Germany, 1970) and the Pamplona Encounters of 1972, and in numerous collective exhibitions in centers such as the Museo del Barrio (New York, 1976), the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona, 1979 and 1983), the FRAC - Maison de Gascogne (Auch, France, 1986) and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (1997), among others. More recently he exhibited at the Fondazione Pastificio Cerere e Spazio Cerere (Rome, 2016) and at the DOR Museum in Sant Julià de Ramis.