by Gema Castellano - Journalist
JOSEP PUIGMARTI: AN ARTIST HALFWAY BETWEEN GENIUS AND ECCENTRICITY
Sunday, 25th February 2007
Definitely not a “typical” painter. Experts who have analyzed his pictorial creation match in this thesis, although Francesc Miralles, historian and art critic, a great scholar of his work, is who "dots the I’s and crosses the T’s" about the artist's style. His book "Josep Puigmartí Sunrise - H214" shows us an artist marked by his experiences and an extremely and unusually fertile creativity, but to understand the meaning of his painting is necessary to know the artist and his work. Settled down in Sitges after a long journey of years that took him to travel around the world, his headquarters is now the Hotel Estela Barcelona, a shelter that guarantees the "rest of the warrior" and inner peace needed to break the feel of memories of his eventful life and "spit" on a canvas. He does so with anger and resentment, almost automatically, but also with nostalgia, elegance and even a sarcastic theatrical sense of humor that makes him a genius.
At eleven he exhibited in Barcelona, but we have to go many years later to find the real Puigmartí. During his teens he was obsessed by snails and spiders but also, and above all, the "butts" of the ladies. His extreme shyness has made of him an eternal and eccentric "voyeur" with no direct personal involvement in the social reality of the times lived, but could not avoid it to be recorded in his subconscious that comes out now in spurts transformed into art. From women, the "leit motiv" in his work and thread of different stages, he is only interested in their physique. Despite the significant role played in his life, he has never delved into them. He’s not interested. Just uses them as a mere fans of this great creation which is himself. They idolize him, they want to fall in love with him, keep him and give him everything, and yet the artist uses them, and when they leave him disappointed, he paints them unstructured and with sarcasm, while retaining details of female beauty as breasts or a long neck attached to an abstract and tiny head that contrasts with the volume of the body.
Josep Puigmarti does not admire the intelligence of a woman and even less the psychological attributes of these great divas that have marked his history or character, rather it causes annoyance and repulsion in him. He only draws attention to her physical beauty, and if there isn’t any, he ignores them. Famous, wealthy, educated and beautiful women have lost her mind for this Catalan artist, who in the '60s and '70s was the spitting image of Gregory Peck. He has lived from them, never with them, in Spain, Paris and Los Angeles a life of luxury while he was an advertising model or while he signed lithographs for Americans using thousands of pseudonyms, but he never stopped painting. Life and cultural or social movements passed in front of his eyes without being involved in them, although he was always where those were taking place.
Bohemian wanderer, and absolutely devoted to the "dolce vita", he was presented to the selective "Gauche Divine" in Cadaqués by the hand of his great friend, Alberto Oliveras radio announcer in the '60s. He painted pictures on the seafront, he starred advertising campaigns designed by Leopoldo Pomes with Teresa Gimpera and the model Romy, he was invited to the big "parties" organized by Salvador Dali, from who he tells a thousand and one stories in the unpublished interview, and he showed evidences of his charisma and powers of seduction, as when the owner of Restaurante El Rio, now Sa Gambina, offered free lunch and dinner every day for him and his friends in order to compete with El Pescador, nearby trendy establishments. Puigmartí accepted and the tables were turned. "El Río” (The River) overflowed with beautiful people drawn by the painter. Gala, Dalí's partner was another woman that succumbed to his charms. Nothing happened, because, according to Puigmartí, "She was very ugly".
Although Josep Puigmarti ensures that the people of the Gauche Divine, their extravagant lifestyle, the painters of Cadaqués or his experience with advertising and fashion did not change anything in him, the prospect of years shows that this was an essential time to determining his future creativity. In fact, this is the period of his life to which he gives more importance in the video interview that we offer -he tells a thousand and one stories about Dali and Cadaques in those times-, and his latest exhibition "Alien Fashion" is showing this point off.
In this amazing exhibition we find a genius, Puigmarti, absolutely evolved from his era of erotic paintings. His characters are theatrical, exaggerated and monstrous, typical of a futuristic film. His rage against women is radicalized with huge strokes, distorting their body to be identified only by their motherhood, rising even further their necks and reducing their heads. Authentic Aliens with catwalk pose.
No wonder. The physical deterioration that occurs over the years means that he does not look like Gregory Peck anymore, and women do not succumb to his charms anymore. Puigmartí punishes them for this. However, he does not surrender. The artist has developed a flamboyant and theatrical strategy of self-image that, theoretically, should replace his already lost “divo” appearance. He finds it hard to live without the admiration of women and they, that suffered in the past, now torment him because they ignore him. He lashes out against all this cruel revenge and the outcome of this imaginary struggle is an explosion of creativity, ingenuity and colour, never so well managed in any of his past times. Josep Puigmartí is one of those unique and amazing artists who paint what they think as well as they say what they think. No interest in intellectualizing. His spontaneity is colossal, not only when painting but when speaking. Listen to him in this exciting and exclusive video interview.