Retrospective Parelles de Robert Llimós

"Organizing this retrospective of Robert Llimós' work has been made possible thanks to the generosity of many people. I would like to thank Joan Giraut i Cot, mayor of CASTELL-PLATJA D'ARO; Lluís Pujol, councilor of culture, and the entire municipal team: Juanjo Gallardo, Kique Ramos, Lali Quinto for hosting this exhibition.  

Thanks also to Joan Maria Martí Font and Javier Sierra for writing magnificent texts about Robert Llimós' work, which you can read in the catalog. Finally, I would like to thank the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, which has made the production of the last five years possible.  

The central theme of this exhibition is [The Couple]. This motif spans over four decades and various styles in Robert's work.  

It begins in the 1980s with the *Dòmino* series. At the time, Robert had been living in New York for several years. During this period, he delved into a new kind of figurative painting, one that strayed from realism to showcase the artist's subjective perspective. This is when the first *Couples* appear: **Love, Dance, Conversation, Separation, Game**... The *Couple* serves as a means to represent a wide range of human emotions and moments.  

In the 1990s, Robert returned to Barcelona and concentrated his figurative work into a minimal combination of elements, with maximum chromatic impact. This was the beginning of the *lines of color in space* and works such as *Lovers*, the sculptures *Character I* and *Character II*, and *Head of a Girl*.  

In the 2000s, after the death of his son, Robert began using lines to split the individual and, occasionally, the couple, as seen in works like *Shadowed Souls*.  

Starting in 2009, Robert obsessively returned to the theme of the *Couple*, following a profoundly intense experience in which he saw a UFO and two extraterrestrial beings. At this point, he initiated a new style, focused on portraying this experience and this *Couple* as faithfully as possible. Robert revisited all the classical techniques he mastered: watercolor, acrylic, oil, engraving, lithography, linoleum, pastel, drawing, terracotta sculpture, and bronze… Always revolving around this experience and this *Couple*.  

However, these characters no longer dance, sing, or embrace. Instead, they gaze at us intensely, perhaps even with curiosity. As if they are speaking to us or trying to show us something, rooted in the opposition between masculine and feminine, always present in the depth of their eyes."

Bruna Battistini 

Curator of the exhibition Parelles in 2016