"DON QUIXOTE OF THE UNIVERSE"

Art is universal.
Every artist and his creations belong to the cultural heritage of all mankind. Similarly, all artists without exception hope that their works may be, one day, admired by everyone.

Josep Puigmarti, the genius of the Art Hotel in Sitges, where he lives and has his studio, is not out of this idea. However, the case of this artist goes beyond the desire to be part of this universal legacy. Josep Puigmarti is already part of the Universe.

On July 25th 2012, the day of his 80th birthday, he was given a very special gift. Mr. Pepe Manteca, professional astronomer and a personal friend of the artist, was commissioned to deliver the document demonstrating and certifying that the US space agency NASA decided to name an asteroid with his surname.

This celestial body had been discovered some years ago by Pepe Manteca, and it was him who presented the petition to the Minor Planet Center of NASA.

The asteroid, with code No. 252470, is located between Mars and Jupiter, orbiting in the asteroid belt that separates the inner planets of the outer ones. 

That day, Josep Puigmartí, made his official entry into the sky.

Since 2000, Puigmartí has always found inspiration in the Universe. As a result of this, we find his famous pictorial series "Alien Fashion" or "Somewhere in the Cosmos". However, his quest to find out a time before all that exists, has existed or will exist in the universe, has led him to his final series with the "Big Bang Pearls".

The artist explains his reasons for choosing this title, since the Big Bang is the genesis of all that today exists in the infinity of the Cosmos, and as this initial moment is the zero point, we can say that all that exists comes from this instant. Everything and everyone is a pearl of the we are sons of it. That is why this series of paintings contains all the preceding ones.

The fact that a scientific organization of such magnitude has decided to make this concession, can be regarded as an outstanding ephemeris. Undoubtedly, it is a tribute to his career and his creative audacity that goes far beyond any other "earthly" reward and places him where he deserves: on the Artistic Olympus, riding between galaxies with his characters, like one "DON QUIXOTE OF THE UNIVERSE".

Technical data of the Asteroid Puigmarti