In the same church that Joan Miró immortalized in his work Mont-roig, l’església i el poble, in 1919, his son, Joan Punyet Miró, now exhibits a series of works that he created together with the artist Marcel Aragonès Sabaté. And not only are they exhibited there, but both of them have created them in this same space, a Renaissance building documented since the 12th century and that for years has been converted into a cultural center.
Aragonès and Punyet, both born in 1968, have known each other since they were children. The first, because he was born in this town of Baix Camp, and the second, because of the link that he and his family have always maintained, especially his father, Joan Miró, who spent long periods of time at what is known as Mas Miró, nowadays also open to the public as the artist’s house-museum. Punyet is a musician, composer and poet, and is dedicated above all to spreading Miró’s arrival. Until not long ago he had left behind the creative restlessness that he must have inherited from his family in his DNA. But in the last three years he has also begun to develop his path as an artist.
“He [Punyet] knew that I painted, that I was dedicated to the artistic world, and I also knew that he wanted to do things. One day we had the opportunity to collaborate, to paint together. And we started to do it with four hands and two chorus”, explains Aragonès, who adds: “Each one makes his individual way separately, but from time to time we merge. It is a different artistic approach that allows us to leave our usual register and allows us to experiment”.
The exhibition, with the title Origen, will be open until September 1st. It includes eight works of abstract carving that sweep lines and materials in an agosarada way. It is, explain both artists, “a tribute to their own roots, to those of their ancestors, and also to the earth, creation and life”. The works have been made with materials from the same land of Mont-roig, such as water from the beach of Pixerota, the land near the hermitages of Mare de Déu de la Roca and Sant Ramon, or branches of trees used as a pinch. The paintings are complemented with photographs by Marcel-la Aguiló that document the process of creation of the artists at the Església Vella Cultural Center.
“This collaboration with Marcel Aragonès and Marcel-la Aguiló in Mont-roig del Camp is very important to reclaim our origins, our roots and our friendship. Recovering the expressive power of the light of the Mediterranean, of the materials that have seen us grow, such as the red earth of the chapel of Sant Ramon, the water of the beach of Mont-roig and branches of the mountain taken as a pinch, transmit all our identity”, explains Punyet Miró, who also emphasizes the importance of the photographs of Marcel-la Aguiló: “Església vella com capella santa plena d’espiritualitat, es reflecteix en les fotografies de la Marcel-la on les energies dels nostres avantpassats guiaven els nostres nostres pinzells. ”
The eight works are presented in six “miniseries” entitled Somnis, Foc, Magma, Galàxia, Flama and Blau. Punyet and Aragonès explain that this project has allowed them to feel “comfortable and free to the point of leaving prejudices behind”. “We are creators who like to rebel against the rules imposed on us. We have the same spirit, and now we have united our creativity and our desire to make art”, says Miró’s net. Aragonès also thinks so: “When we paint together there is a chemistry that frees us a little bit from everything and we do what comes out of us more than ever. We have experimented, and that has opened a new path that frees us. We do what really comes from inside us, and that is very nice”, he admits.
In California
It is not the first time that both artists work together. Last year they presented an exhibition at the Marc Calzada gallery in Barcelona. “It had great repercussion and was a success; and this year we have been encouraged again”, according to Aragonès, who emphasizes that they already have in hand other projects in the international scope, like a pictorial action in direct and a later exhibition in a gallery of Beverly Hills (Los Angeles, California), next year. And even further, Tokyo could be another stop on the path taken by all two creators. A path that began to take shape when they were children and played in the streets of Mont-Roig that marked the life of the great Joan Miró, because it was there, in the family farmhouse, where he decided that, despite the opposition of his parents, he would devote himself to painting.