FOUNTAIN – Jaume Plensa (2006)

This lithograph from Jaume Plensa’s Serie Anónimos shows the serene face of a bald-headed figure, frontally composed and marked by the descending word FOUNTAIN. Printed vertically, the term evokes purity, flow, origin — yet the black ink streaming from the top edge disrupts any idealization. Like water turned to ink, the “fountain” becomes metaphysical: a place of emergence that is also obscured, wounded, blurred.

The portrait — gentle yet unwavering — reveals the artist’s ongoing interest in identity stripped of narrative. The lack of hair, jewelry, or clear gender cues renders the subject archetypal. Printed in 2006 on vegetal paper by Grifoll (Rubí, Barcelona), this piece, like its companions, turns the surface of the paper into a membrane of projection and introspection. FOUNTAIN is a title and an offering — one word, flowing endlessly down.

• Object: Lithograph
• Title: FOUNTAIN
• Artist / Author: Jaume Plensa
• Date: 2006
• Technique / Printing Method: Offset lithography
• Medium / Materials: Ink on translucent vegetal paper
• Edition: Open edition (Serie Anónimos)
• Signed: No (studio-printed credit likely on verso)
• Framing: Mounted on archival conservation board (unframed)
• Dimensions: 30 × 22 cm (image), 39 × 28 cm (mounted)
• Condition: Excellent
• Provenance: Darwin Collection