Francesca Llopis facts for kids

Francesca Llopis, a visual artist from Barcelona.

Francesca Llopis (born in Barcelona, 1956) is a talented visual artist from Barcelona, Spain. She began showing her artwork in 1981. Her art is often inspired by her travels and by nature. She mainly creates paintings, drawings, and video installations. She also works with other artists, like Barbara Held and Robert Wyatt. She once said that painting, drawing, and moving images are the main tools she uses for her art.

She has shown her art in many countries around the world. These include Spain, France, Switzerland, the United States, Italy, Germany, Korea, China, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan.

Her Art Style

Francesca Llopis's early art was influenced by architecture and a style called Neo-expressionism from the 1980s. This helped her show urban culture, which is about city life. She is very interested in cities, especially how they are planned and how they look from above. Because of this, she often uses the idea of a labyrinth (a maze) to describe a city in her art.

Her art is also inspired by Abstract expressionism, which is a style of American painting. She looks up to artists like Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Meret Oppenheim, Nancy Spero, and Eva Hesse.

Her more recent artworks are often poetic and have a political message. She creates them so that the people who see them can add their own thoughts and feelings to complete the meaning.

Her Artistic Journey

Francesca Llopis started her art studies in 1976 at a school called EINA. There, she met many other artists and designers. Between 1979 and 1981, she worked in an interior design studio. She also received a special grant to live and work at the Teater Studio in the Pałac Kultury in Warsaw. A big change in the country at that time made her rethink her early art style. From then on, "travel" became a very important part of her artistic process.

Between 1983 and 1986, she began her professional art career. She had exhibitions like Història d'una temptació (History of a temptation) in Montpellier and Barcelona trasbalsada (Barcelona overwhelmed) in Barcelona. In 1988, she had artist residencies at the Accademia di Roma and the École des Beaux Arts of Nîmes. An art expert named Arnau Puig described her painting as "semantic structuralism." This was because she was very focused on built spaces and the meaning of words.

In 2002, she showed her first video installation called 2 habitacions amb vistes (2 rooms with views). This artwork was a look at society in Barcelona. In 2004, she started a project called ETC. This project aimed to discuss why women artists are often missing from art history. In 2009, she began a new painting style using inks and notebooks. These works turned into different art pieces, films, and murals.

In 2015, she took part in the Biennial of Noseden in Japan. Her work there was called Dealers of memory. It included a video installation, Apunts per un iceberg (Notes for an iceberg), and an installation, Llibre de llàgrimes (Book of tears). These works connected personal feelings with bigger ideas about the universe. In 2016, she created an installation called Traction action in Japan. It used pink footprints from people in the city to connect humanity with the universe. She also had a residency for performance art in Busan, Korea.

In 2017, she presented an installation called Llum! (Light!) at Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona. This piece used neon and glass to reflect on historical memory. She also performed us & the state of things in Köln and Barcelona. She participated in Big Draw at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona with her works Insecta'm and Enjardina't (Insect me and Garden yourself).

Selected Exhibitions

Francesca Llopis has had many solo and permanent exhibitions. Here are a few examples:

• La societat és una flor carnívora (The society is a carnivorous flower) in Barcelona, Spain, and Hamburg, Germany (1993).
• Brot de Rauxa (Sprout of Rage), an installation at the Cathedral of Barcelona (1995). She worked with Barbara Held on music for this piece.
• Malaltes d'amor (Sick with love), an installation in Lübeck, Germany (1999).
• La via làctia (The Milky Way), an installation with Begoña Egurbide at the Valldaura subway station in Barcelona (2001).
• 2 habitacions amb vistes (2 rooms with views), a video-installation at Centre d'Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona (2002).
• 7 murals, a permanent artwork at Mercat de la Boqueria in Barcelona (2011). She created this with Carme Pinós.
• Nosaltres & l’estat de les coses (Us & the state of things) at Museu Molí Paperer in Capellades, Spain (2018).

Group Exhibitions and Festivals

She has also participated in many group shows and festivals:

• Cinco chicas (Five girls) in Madrid, Spain (1982).
• Artur Cravant, a performance with Carles Hac Mor in Barcelona (1983).
• 6.8.89 Tian’anmen in Barcelona (1989).
• Les allumés in Nantes, France (1990).
• Drums, desire, after summer "Z-A", a video with Barbara Held in New York, USA (2007).
• OSAKA 1, a video-installation at CosmoCaixa in Barcelona (2012).
• New iceberg, a video-installation at the “Guerrilha festival” in São Paulo, Brazil (2012).
• Ruidos silencio (Noises silence) in Barcelona (2017).

Awards and Grants

Francesca Llopis has received several important awards and grants throughout her career:

• The Joan Miró International Drawing Prize from the Miró Foundation in Barcelona (1981).
• Grants from the Ministry of Culture in Spain (1981, 1996).
• Grants from the Generalitat de Catalunya (the government of Catalonia) in Spain (1983, 1990, 2001, 2003, 2007).
• A grant to study at the Accademia de Roma (1988).
• A grant to study at the l'École des Beaux-Arts de Nimes in France (1989).
• The Prize of artistic trajectory from the Institut de la Dona (Women's Institute) in Barcelona (2002).
• She was involved in the Art i futur lithograph editing project in Barcelona (2015).
• She designed the poster for the Passió d’Olesa in Barcelona (2017).

See also

In Spanish: Francesca Llopis para niños