Panoplia (Panoply)

Ramon Guillen-Balmes was a prominent artist in the 1980s and 1990s Catalan art scene. His work is rooted in the work of creators who interfere with nature, such as German artist Hans Haacke and Catalan artists Àngels Ribé, Antoni Muntadas, Carles Pujol, Francesc Torres and Fina Miralles. It also has a clear connection to the sensibility of sculptors such as Joan Rom and Pepe Espaliú.
His early works were drawings of artefacts in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, but he soon began to create constructions in wood and white tissue paper — emblems that would define his unique output — focusing on sculpture based on his personal memory of objects.
Starting in the 1990s, he created the series Arqueologies d’Artista (Artist Archaeologies), featuring small objects with organic shapes that combine an indefinable functionality with his two major themes: nature and the body. This series was presented at Barcelona’s Àngels de la Mota Gallery in 1990 and consisted of objects whose silhouettes refer to the human body. They look like prostheses, but at the same time they could be instruments of torture or pleasure. Panoplia has a double meaning. Firstly, it is a broad exhibition or display of pieces, reminiscent of the arrangement of organic specimens in a naturalist’s collection. Secondly, it refers to a complete suit of armour in all its elements, as if the pieces were waiting to be combined again
into a single body.

Carmen Fernández Aparicio