Across Two Exhibitions, Jaume Plensa’s Monumental Sculptures Unite Scale and Material

Measuring 28 feet wide and seven feet tall, two monumental wooden relief sculptures anchor Beyond Silence, a new exhibition at GRAY Chicago. The broad works—titled “Julia” and “Maria”—were created as part of the artist’s recent series, Beyond Silence, which shares a name with the show. These pieces transform the gallery’s open exhibition space with their rigid angles, creating a structured rhythm to complement the subdued contours of the faces they depict.

Surrounding these wooden reliefs, viewers encounter dramatically elongated faces stretching seven feet high. The impressive portraits are part of Plensa’s Clouds series, in which the artist pairs cast iron—a material often associated with commercialism and industry—with the suavity of granite stone, “producing an unexpected sense of suspension and weightlessness,” the gallery says. These larger-than-life faces stand with their eyes closed, inviting intimate encounters and moments of quiet contemplation.

Both Beyond Silence, at GRAY Chicago, and Remote, Serene, Ethereal, at the gallery’s New York location, are on view until December 19. Plensa’s iconic Crown Fountain, also in Chicago’s Millennium Park, offers a lasting presence that complements his current works. Through his use of scale and material, Plensa invites visitors to reflect on their own humanity and the spaces we inhabit.