Poetry, typography and mass communication, Josep Iglésias del Marquet at the Virreina Centre de la Imatge

Painter, art critic, visual poet and journalist, Josep Iglesias del Marquet (Artesa de Lleida, Segrià, 1932 - Barcelona, 1989) is a key figure in understanding the penetration of concrete poetry in Catalonia, as well as one of the pioneers of mail art during his time as a university professor in Scotland and Canada between 1962 and 1966. After his return to Barcelona, he promoted and participated in different collective exhibitions of experimental poetry and founded Lo Pardal editions with Guillem Viladot. Particularly active in the seventies, he created a large number of collages and visual poems that reflect two of his great interests: typography and mass communication, two essential themes in the multifaceted poetics of an author as fundamental as he is unknown to the general public.

Midway between art, journalism, and poetry, Iglesias del Marquet was a curious observer of the arts and new communication systems, as well as a great connoisseur of graphic arts and the history of the book. A self-proclaimed devotee of the Chinese precursors in this field, of Gutenberg and of everything that printing has generated over the centuries, he was one of the first Catalan artists to integrate the printed traces of consumer society into his works and circulate them through alternative channels. Without ever completely abandoning painting, he found in experimental poetry and mail art an international circuit outside the market that allowed him to experiment and reflect on the changes in society in the second half of the 20th century.

This exhibition delves into the working methods of Iglesias del Marquet, who reused materials both his own and others' without establishing a clear difference between his creative side, that of editor and printer, and that of journalist and popularizer. Likewise, on the walls of the room, various themes, techniques, and periods intertwine to reflect a very particular constellation in a non-linear way. The exhibition presents unpublished collages, mostly from the family archive, as well as graphic works, pieces for other poets, and traces of the world he mapped between text and image.

The exhibition of Josep Iglesias del Marquet can be visited free of charge from Tuesday to Sunday (and holidays) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.