User:Mireiaalvarezmiret/sandbox
Draft: Oriol Sàbat
[edit]Oriol Sàbat | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 2, 1967 Barcelona, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Education | Universitat de Barcelona (BFA, Engraving) |
| Known for | Painting, sculpture, engraving, poetry |
| Notable work | Els somnis del xaman, L’escletxa d’un somni, Oriol Sàbat (monograph) |
| Style | Gestural abstraction, material expressionism, poetic symbolism |
| Movement | Independent, Expressionism, Symbolism |
| Awards | Premi Nacional de Pintura Juan Ramón Masoliver (2000), Barceló Foundation Prize (1999) |
| Website | www |
Oriol Sàbat (born 2 September 1967) is a Catalan visual artist and writer. His work spans multiple disciplines, including painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, poetry, and essay writing. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Spain and abroad since the late 1980s and has been the recipient of several national art awards.
Early Life and Education
[edit]Oriol Sàbat was born to Montserrat and Josep in Barcelona in 1967 and raised in a traditional Catalan household. His parents would school him, despite the Francoist dictatorship, in the liberal Catalan school Pere Vergés - Garbí. Sàbat began his artistic training at Acadèmia El Taller in Barcelona (1980–1984), continued at Acadèmia Chelsea (Barcelona) from 1985 to 1986, and later studied at the Escola Internacional de Gravat de Calella de la Costa. In 1987, he was awarded a scholarship to the Scuola del Convento di San Francesco in Sermoneta, Italy, supported by the Ministero degli Affari Esteri. He earned a degree in Fine Arts with a specialization in engraving from the University of Barcelona in 1991.
Work
[edit]In 1987 Oriol Sàbat moved his studio from Barcelona to Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, and has maintained it ever since. There he works in painting, sculpture, drawing, and engraving. He has held over thirty solo exhibitions in Spain, Belgium, and Mexico. His first solo exhibition was in 1989 at the Capella de l’Antic Hospital in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. Notable exhibitions include those at Galeria Montcada, Galeria Fidel Balaguer, Galeria Antoni Pinyol, and the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya in Barcelona, as well as international venues in Brussels, Oaxaca de Juárez, and Veracruz.
He has also participated in a wide range of group exhibitions since the late 1980s, including major venues in Catalonia, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, Cadaqués, Santa Fe, and Mexico City. These include the 30th and 31st Miniprint Internacional de Cadaqués, Galerie L’Étangd’Art (France), William Siegal Gallery, Art Santa Fe (New Mexico), Galería De Los Cien (Mexico), Galería Yuri López Kullins (Madrid), and the traveling exhibition Ardhara (Penedès and Garraf). His work has also been included in thematic and juried exhibitions such as Fundación Barceló (Palma de Mallorca).
Throughout his career, Sàbat has received several artistic prizes. He was awarded the First Prize at the Premi Nacional de Pintura Juan Ramón Masoliver (2000), and an Honourable Mention at the Hommage à Trois (2020). He was also awarded by the Fundación Barceló Prize in Palma de Mallorca (1999), and was a finalist in both the 1998 and 2021 editions of the Juan Ramón Masoliver and Hommage à Trois prizes, respectively.
His work is part of the collections of Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez and the Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños (MUPO) in Oaxaca, Fundació Collserola in Barcelona, Museu de Valls in Tarragona, Associació Internacional Duana de les Arts (AIDA), Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya, and the collection of several city halls around Catalonia, such as Montcada i Reixac and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. His work is also part of private collections such as the one of Ian and Maritza Liljequist, and of Henrich E. Schmidt in Switzerland.
Key Collaborations and Influences
[edit]Throughout his career, Oriol Sàbat has developed ongoing professional relationships with curators, critics, poets, and institutions that have influenced his artistic development and public reception. In 1989, photographer Martí Català, son of Francesc Català-Roca, introduced him to the art critic José Corredor-Matheos, initiating a long-standing collaboration that included the book-film Oriol Sàbat (ISBN 978-84-612-1713-7)[1]. That same year, he met art historian Lourdes Cirlot, who would later publish writings on his work.
In 1994, while living in Paris, he connected with gallerist Cérès Franco. He also formed lasting friendships with critics Àlex Mitrani and Albert Mercadé, both of whom would later write extensively about his work. In the early 2000s, poet Goya Gutiérrez introduced Sàbat to Revista ALGA, where he published drawings, poems and essays.
Between 2006 and 2008, he was in contact with José Luis Giménez-Frontín, then director of the Associació Col·legial d'Escriptors de Catalunya (ACEC), who encouraged his narrative writing. In 2008, he co-produced the audiovisual project Llibre-Film with art historian Albert Mercadé. Later in 2010, Marta Binneti, poet, dancer and coreographer, performed in the opening act of his A Poetry Of Sculpture exhibition in Vilafranca del Penedès.
In later years, Sàbat developed creative and intellectual ties with painter Rosa Mirambell, critic Valentí Gómez-Oliver, and artist Marga Clark, all of whom participated in exhibitions such as Els Somnis del Xaman (2015). Following a trip to Mexico in 2019, he began collaborating with curator Miguel Vives, who helped organize exhibitions in Oaxaca and Veracruz. Since 2020, he has been affiliated with the international art collective Duana de les Arts.
Books and Audiovisual Work
[edit]In 2008, Oriol Sàbat published the monograph Oriol Sàbat with the Barcelona-based art publisher Insòlit. The volume includes critical texts by José Corredor-Matheos, Albert Mercadé, and Susanna Rafart, as well as a selection of Sàbat's poetry. Mercadé analyzed the artist’s visual work, while Rafart focused on his poetic production. The publication is noted for presenting Sàbat as a "passionate and solitary" artist whose expressionist language reflects a moral and spiritual stance.[2][3]
The book was accompanied by an audiovisual DVD, produced in collaboration with Mercadé and filmmaker Sebastián Bruno. The film offers a meditative fusion of image and sound, centered on Sàbat’s studio practice and poetic vision. It features an original score composed by Austrian cellist Martin Merker and was praised for its evocative aesthetic and formal coherence.[4]
Sàbat has also self-published literary works, including the prose collection Històries d’un desgavell (2008), which received praise from José Luis Giménez-Frontín for its philosophical density and narrative concision.[5]
In 2024, his illustrated narrative work L’escletxa d’un somni was presented in a performance and exhibition format. Art historian Lourdes Cirlot described it as a dreamlike creation that merges text and image, with echoes of William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe. Cirlot highlighted the piece’s use of a personal invented script and its symbolic richness.[6]
Critical Reception
[edit]Oriol Sàbat’s work has received significant attention from prominent Catalan and Spanish art historians and critics, who have noted his technical mastery, spiritual themes, and unique visual language.
Art critic José Corredor-Matheos described Sàbat as "an independent man" whose art embodies "great energy and passion," developed through intuition and a lengthy process of refinement.[2] In 2024, Corredor-Matheos praised Sàbat’s poetry as "a luminous fusion of image and word," and further reflected on its prophetic tone, lyrical urgency, and philosophical depth. Describing Sàbat’s book Els qui moriran et saluden, he wrote: “A real book of poems, but also of philosophical thought and personal journal. Not written to be read aloud, nor a confessional – it simply emerged by necessity.”[7]
Àlex Mitrani observed in 2001 that Sàbat’s painting possesses an "autonomous force" that evokes the inexpressible depths of human experience.[8] In a 2008 article in Serra d'Or, Mitrani praised the artist’s interdisciplinary collaboration with Albert Mercadé and filmmaker Sebastián Bruno on the audiovisual work accompanying the monograph Oriol Sàbat. He called it “a serious and stimulating result,” demonstrating how “with modest means and youthful initiative,” high-quality, evocative art can be achieved.[9]
Similarly, Conxita Oliver noted how his brushwork captures "the immediacy of the act of painting," likening his work to a personal diary of lived moments.[10] Critic Sílvia Muñoz d’Imbert highlighted Sàbat’s resistance to prevailing artistic trends, praising his creation of a personal universe marked by energetic brushstrokes and a raw, dynamic representation of nature rather than idyllic imagery.[11]
In 2008, Jaume Vidal Oliveras interpreted Sàbat’s work in Arte y Parte Magazine as a ritualistic blaze connected to initiation, sacrifice, and purification.[12] That year, journalist Natàlia Ramon noted in Time Out the spiritual dimension in Sàbat’s paintings and sculptures, describing motifs such as cracked tree bark and deep cavities that evoke nothingness.[13]
Art historian Albert Mercadé emphasized Sàbat’s comprehensive command of techniques and materials, including the crafting of his own canvases and pigments, which supports the authenticity of his artistic expression rather than evoking nostalgia.[14] In the 2008 monograph, Mercadé characterized Sàbat as a “passionate and solitary” figure whose expressionist art—deeply empathetic toward the mysteries of nature—stands apart from generational trends and takes on a moral and spiritual stance, likening aspects of his worldview to that of Joseph Beuys.[15]
In the 2024 exhibition “Oriol Sàbat, una vida dibuixada” at the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya, curators Mariàngels Granados and Concepció Isern emphasized Sàbat’s versatility across disciplines such as poetry, engraving, ceramics, and narrative illustration. In the exhibition catalogue, Albert Mercadé described his work as rooted in “masses informes, paisatges profètics, rostres entotsolats, albades incandescents,” asserting that to approach Sàbat’s world is to reconnect with “the most genuine values of artistic creation.” Àlex Mitrani, also featured in the publication, reflected on the psychological depth of his work, comparing it to “confronting the sphinx,” and asserting that “the legitimate aspiration to happiness is not resolved in self-deception.”[16]
Mercadé also described Sàbat’s paintings as "a pictorial combustion between symbol and material," underscoring the dynamic tension between form and poetic instinct.[17]
Valentí Gómez i Oliver compared Sàbat’s artistic vision to that of a shaman navigating invisible worlds in pursuit of knowledge, reflecting themes discussed by Mircea Eliade.[18] This reading was echoed in poetic form by Marga Clark, who described the Els Somnis del Xaman series as a visual exploration of fire, blood, passion, and origin. She interpreted the work as a shamanic ritual of transformation, where “the canvas is the body revealing its scars” and “the artist sculpts his own interior.”[19]
In 2023, Luis Fernando Quirós described Sàbat’s Oaxaca exhibition as a "profound meditation" confronting uncertainty and chaos, characterized by gestural brushwork.[20]
In 2024, art historian Lourdes Cirlot reviewed Sàbat’s project L’escletxa d’un somni, comparing his invented visual language to that of William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe, and noting his meticulous fusion of script and imagery to create a dreamlike symbolic space worthy of wider recognition. Cirlot praised the illustrated performance as “a great work that deserves to be published and disseminated.”[21]
That year, Sàbat participated in a public dialogue with Àlex Mitrani at the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya, reaffirming his relevance in contemporary Catalan art discourse.[22]
Exhibitions
[edit]Solo Exhibitions
[edit]1989 – Capella de l’Antic Hospital, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
1992 – Emilio Risques Gallery, Barcelona
1993 – Jordi Boronat Gallery, Barcelona
1994 – Galeria Montcada, Barcelona
1995 – Mediterranean Academy, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
1997 – Exhibition Hall of the City Council, Balaguer; Les voltes de casa Bas, Capellades; Cultural Center of L'Escorxador, Sitges
1998 – Sala gòtica, Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida; Sala dels Trinitaris, Vilafranca del Penedès
1999 – Capella de l’Antic Hospital, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
2000 – Gallery L n’est pas C, Brussels
2001 – Municipal Auditorium, Montcada i Reixac; Ramon Bosch de Noya Library, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
2003 – Galeria Antoni Pinyol, Reus; Paqui Delgado Gallery, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
2004 – Painting and Mystery, Caixa de Catalunya Foundation, Granollers and Solsona
2005 – Painting on Fire, Gallery Per. For. Art, Barcelona
2007 – Collserola Foundation, Frederic Mistral–Technical Eulàlia School, Barcelona
2008 – Galeria Fidel Balaguer, Barcelona
2009 – Galeria Montserrat Costa, Barcelona
2010 – A Poetry of Sculpture, Cloister of Sant Francesc, Vilafranca del Penedès; Ateneu de Cervelló, Barcelona
2015 – Els somnis del xaman, Capella de l’Índex, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
2018 – En llamas, El Palauet, Barcelona – A multidisciplinary exhibition featuring paintings, graphics, sculpture, and ceramics. The works explored themes of mythic femininity, erotic mystery, natural chaos, and spiritual transformation.[23]
2019 – Jaula de espejos, Centro Cultural La Calera, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico
2020 – October 1st, Dignity Against Oblivion, Museu del Mar de l’Ebre, Sant Carles de la Ràpita
2021 – Foro Niebla, Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico
2022 – Flor y cicatriz, Hostería de Alcalá, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico
2024 – Una vida dibuixada, Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya, Barcelona – Retrospective exhibition curated by Mariàngels Granados and Concepció Isern, highlighting Sàbat’s multidisciplinary trajectory across painting, poetry, engraving, sculpture, and narrative illustration.[24]
Group Exhibitions
[edit]1988 – L’Escorxador, Figueres City Council
1991 – Second Art Exhibition of Penedès (Ardhara); Catalan Week, San Francisco, USA; Second Engraving Exhibition, Faculty of Fine Arts, Barcelona; Ibérico 2000, Maeght Gallery, Barcelona
1992 – Drawings, Brok Gallery; Sala Arcs; Paintings, Brok Gallery; Selected for Ynglada Guillot International Drawing Contest, Barcelona
1993 – Selected in the Sitges Young Painting Exhibition
1994 – 1st Art Exhibition in Small Format, Art Adiction, Stockholm, Sweden
1995 – Musée Atelier Adzak, Paris; Ceramics, Sant Raimon Fair, Vilafranca del Penedès
1996 – Galeria Espalter, Madrid; Artexpo, Barcelona; Ceramics, Galeria Montcada, Barcelona; Around the Figure, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
1997 – Painting, Galeria Montcada; Homenatge a Francesc Català-Roca, Museum of Valls; Estimats Artistes, Galeria Montcada
1998 – Jordi Barnadas Gallery, Barcelona; Genesis, Sala Julio Antonio, Mora d’Ebre; Masoliver Prize (finalist), Montcada i Reixac; Exhibition Hall of the Town Hall, Balaguer
1999 – Barceló Foundation Prize, Palma de Mallorca
2000 – Masoliver Prize (first prize), Montcada i Reixac; 1st Biennial of Painting, Dressanes, Barcelona
2001 – 9th La Rambla Painting Prize (first prize), El Triangle, Port of Barcelona
2002 – Awarded works, Barceló Foundation, Palma de Mallorca
2004 – Galeria De la Riba, Cadaqués; Imatges ambigües, Peralada
2005 – International Exhibition, Alcázar de San Juan, Castilla-La Mancha
2006 – Project Puzzle, L’H-Original, Barcelona
2009 – Galeria Antoni Pinyol, Reus
2010 – 30th Miniprint Internacional, Fort Gallery, Cadaqués; Wingfield Barns Art Center, UK; William Siegal Gallery and Art Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2011 – 31st Miniprint Internacional, Cadaqués; Galerie L’Étangd’Art, France
2012 – Ardhara: 25 Years, traveling exhibition (Penedès and Garraf)
2020 – Hommage à Trois, Església Nova, Sant Carles de la Ràpita
2021 – Hommage à Trois, Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya and Església Nova, la Ràpita
2022 – Umbrales y penumbrales, La Calera, Oaxaca; Pieza del mes, MUPO Museum, Oaxaca; Constructos Abstractos, Instituto Tecnológico Valle de Oaxaca
2023 – Galería de los Cien, Oaxaca; Constructos Abstractos, Galería Yuri López Kullins, Madrid[25]
2025 – El traç pur, Ca l’Antiga, Teià
References
[edit]- ^ "Oriol Sàbat". Agencia del ISBN. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ a b Corredor-Matheos, José (2008). Oriol Sàbat. Barcelona: Insòlit-Films d'Art.
- ^ Mercadé, Albert (2008). Oriol Sàbat. Insòlit.
- ^ Mitrani, Àlex (June 2008). "L'art d'un treballador obstinat". Serra d'Or (582).
- ^ Giménez-Frontín, José Luis (2008). "José Luis Giménez-Frontín on Oriol Sàbat's *Històries d'un desgavell*". LinkedIn. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Cirlot, Lourdes (2024). "Esta tarde he asistido a una performance..." LinkedIn. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Corredor-Matheos, José (2024). "Reflections on the poetry of Oriol Sàbat". LinkedIn. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Mitrani, Àlex (2001), Presentation text, Biblioteca Ramon Bosch de Noya, Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
{{citation}}:|format=requires|url=(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Mitrani, Àlex (June 2008). "L'art d'un treballador obstinat". Serra d'Or (582).
- ^ Oliver, Conxita (2001), Exhibition catalogue text, Montcada i Reixac, Juan Ramón Masoliver Prize
{{citation}}:|format=requires|url=(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Muñoz d'Imbert, Sílvia (2004), Unpublished article
{{citation}}:|format=requires|url=(help) - ^ Vidal Oliveras, Jaume (2008). "Article in Arte y Parte". Arte y Parte (74).
- ^ Ramon, Natàlia (March 2008). "Time Out article". Time Out.
- ^ Mercadé, Albert (August 2005). "Oriol Sàbat and mastery of technique". Bonart.
- ^ Mercadé, Albert (2008). Oriol Sàbat. Insòlit.
- ^ "Oriol Sàbat, una vida dibuixada". Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya. 2024. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Mercadé, Albert (2020). "Oriol Sàbat: Pintura en flames". Albert Mercadé's Blog. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Gómez i Oliver, Valentí (2015), Text for Shaman’s Dreams exhibition
{{citation}}:|format=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Els Somnis del Xaman (multilingual edition)". Google Books. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Quirós, Luis Fernando (2023). "Oriol Sàbat in Oaxaca culture". Revista Meer. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ Cirlot, Lourdes (2024). "Review of L'escletxa d'un somni". Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ "Oriol Sàbat i Àlex Mitrani: un diàleg il·lustrat". Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya. 2024. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ "Oriol Sàbat presents his work "En llamas" this May in Barcelona". The Art Market. April 24, 2018. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ "Oriol Sàbat, una vida dibuixada". Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya. 2024. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ^ "Constructos Abstractos". ArteInformado. Retrieved July 2025.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)
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