Joan Gardy Artigas
Encyclopedia
Joan Gardy Artigas is a Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...

 ceramist, artist and (was) a close collaborator with Joan Miro
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...


Life

Artigas was born on 18 June 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....

 (near Paris) and his father was Josep Llorens Artigas who worked closely with Miro and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

. Artigas was able to work for Miro, whilst still a teenager, because of his father's relationship with Miro. Artigas trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where he met the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...

. Artigas established his own studio where at Giacometti's suggestion he concentrated on sculpture. Artigas had some success and supplied his expertise to the cubists Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...

 and Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...

.
Artigas created the 7,200 tiles for the Miro Wall
Miró Wall
The Miró Wall is a ceramic tiled wall designed by Catalan artist Joan Miró for the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The wall, which comprises 7,200 tiles, is wide and high.-Design:...

 colouring the tiles based on an image which Miro had created. Using that scale model, he marked out each section on an individual 20 by 36 cm (7.9 by 14.2 in) tile. The artwork includes the signatures of both artists. Artigas' signature is dated 1979.

Artigas was later called to return to assisting Miro when his father decided to retire.
Artigas worked with Miro for twenty years creating other similar sized murals including examples for UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 and the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos in Madrid. Artigas worked with Miro on, Dona i Ocell
Dona i Ocell
Woman and Bird is a 22-metre high sculpture by Joan Miró located in the Parc Joan Miró on the road Carrer de Tarragona in Barcelona. The sculpture was covered in tiles by the artist's collaborator Joan Gardy Artigas...

, one of his last large works which was covered in broken tiles by Artigas. In this case the tiles remind the viewer of Gaudi's work.

In 1982 Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies is a Catalan painter. He is one of the most famous European artists of his generation. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting...

 won the Gold Medal of Catalonia for a mosaic in the Plaça de Catalunya in Sant Boi de Llobregat
Sant Boi de Llobregat
Sant Boi de Llobregat is a town of 80,000 inhabitants in the Barcelona province in Catalonia, located aside the Llobregat river.The town distributes its territory into six districts: Ciutat Cooperativa-Molí Nou, Marianao-Can Paulet, Barri Centre, Vinyets-Molí Vell, Camps Blancs-Canons-Orioles and...

. Artigas had constructed the ceramics for this prize winning exhibit. Artigas continued his own art and he was awarded his first solo exhibition in America in 1982. He has been a visiting artist at two American universities and he has founded a foundation to celebrate his father's work. Gardy-Artigas serves on the board of the foundation Fundació Joan Miró
Fundació Joan Miró
The ' is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró and located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia.-History:...

in Barcelona.
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