Self-portrait with Eugenia Balcells (1988)

From Andreu Avel·lí Artís 'Sempronio' ​​​​(Barcelona, ​​​​1908-Sitges, 2006) to The Vanguard (July 7, 1988). My own translation. In his section "Self-Portrait for Two," Sempronio cultivated an original formula of brief interviews with a personality from the art world. In this case, with Eugènia Balcells (Barcelona, ​​1943-2026), an internationally renowned visual artist who He died nine days ago today.Balcells excelled in the production of audiovisual works shaped by a powerful conceptual artistic inspiration. He collaborated on one of the special editions of the ARAHe held the Creu de Sant Jordi and the National Culture Prize. Illustration: sketch drawn by Eugenia Balcells during her conversation with Sempronio.

With her hair loose over her shoulders, wearing a tunic that trails on the carpets, the artist Eugenia Balcells walks barefoot through the studio.Does that seem wrong to you? "I don't think it's good or bad," he articulates. "I'm just noting these trivial details to compensate for the brevity of his self-portrait."The eye in the drawing is mine. She reassures me, pointing to the spot on the postcard where the stamp should be affixed [image attached]. I examine the drawing closely, focusing on the eyes, comparing them to those in the drawing. It goes without saying that she has been frank with me throughout our conversation.It's very difficult to find ideas -"Although, in this matter, she can consider herself well-supplied!" she says. She shows me a double-page spread from the magazine. Life dedicated to the centenary of the Statue of Liberty. Eugenia, perched on a ladder, composes her "Liberty, a symbolic puzzle", which was affixed to the inside of the monument's base. With eight hundred and thirty-four different postcards, all depicting the statue, he created a panoramic panel that should be yet another tourist attraction. He spent a year on this work and I imagine he was quite well paid, because back in Barcelona he created a jigsaw puzzle, this time with a Barcelona theme. There will be seven thousand postcards, distributed across seven panels."Barcelona, ​​a postcard of postcards"It will be a compendium of our history, our landscape, our customs. And the good ideas of the succinctly self-portraited artist don't end there. Her artistic creed consists of creating new visions, of discovering unprecedented ways of seeing. She tells me about the exhibition of a series of stone remains unearthed from the Olympic Village. Years and water have shaped, polished, and beautified them."No schisms! I love to continue the story you're referring to, using the means that science has put in our hands: photography, film, video, audiovisuals... Her studio, in Sant Gervasi, boasts a terrace overlooking old villas. Eugenia doesn't reject the neighborhood's antiquity; on the contrary. Joy can take on all sorts of forms., she emphasizes.

Andreu Avel·lí Artís 'Sempronio' ​​​​1988