Jaume Plensa Gets Inside His Head

For Laura, his monumental sculpture at The Century Plaza, the acclaimed Spanish artist was inspired by the inner workings of the human mind.

It is colossal in scale, yet airy and almost ethereal. It’s strikingly contemporary, yet at the same time evocative of ancient relics. And though the piece evokes calm and meditative silence, it’s at the heart of a bustling public plaza in a newly rebirthed neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

These are just a few of the intriguing contradictions of Laura, the monumental sculpture created by artist Jaume Plensa for The Century Plaza.

Sited at the entrance to the landmark Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel and set within a circular reflecting pool, the 23-foot-tall stainless steel work depicts the head of a young woman, her eyes and mouth closed as in repose. Fabricated of gleaming stainless steel mesh, its criss-crossed wires are sculpted to resemble a 3D digital image — the virtual rendered IRL.  

Human faces and heads are a recurring theme for Plensa, a Barcelona-based artist whose multifaceted body of work investigates themes of silence, community, language, spirituality, environmentalism, and — perhaps above all — humanity. His artwork, which has been exhibited from London to New York to Tokyo, varies in material and form, but generally speaks to humans’ relationship with the internal and external worlds. With their impassive expressions, his faces convey a withdrawal from the world and the figures’ connection to their inner selves. They also recall some of humankind’s most iconic creations of history and legend, from the Easter Island moai to Yeats’ imagined Ozymandias. 

“With this piece, I was thinking a lot about the workings inside our mind,” said the artist from his studio in Barcelona. It’s why he chose wire mesh as his medium for Laura. “I wanted that transparency because I have always wanted to see the inside of my head,” he said with a laugh. “Wouldn’t it be fascinating to be able to see the movement of our thoughts? Our powers of wisdom? And our dreams?”

The Plensa Touch

“Laura” marks the artist’s first Los Angeles commission and one he says he was excited about from the moment he first saw the plans for The Century Plaza. “I love Los Angeles and have visited many times, but this was the first opportunity that felt right for me,” he explained. (In case local Plensa fans are wondering, his 2012 sculpture Endless V, which can be viewed at Beverly Gardens Park in Beverly Hills, is not a site-specific piece.) He has an especially strong affinity for creating art for public spaces, thus allowing his sculptures to be animated by a community.  “I’ve always loved the idea of the modern day agora, a gathering place where people can meet and share ideas.” 

It was Plensa’s triumph with Crown Fountain, at Millenium Park in Chicago that first put the artist on the map in this country. That work, which remains one of the city’s most-visited destinations, is formed by two vertical towers with LED screens displaying large-scale videos of Chicago residents who appear to be shooting water out of their mouths. The playful installation immediately became a favorite meeting spot.

Over the last two decades Plensa’s star has risen globally. He has been the subject of solo museum exhibitions at the MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; MAMAC-Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in France’s Saint-Étienne Métropole; Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR, in Germany, and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, among others. He is also the subject of a new feature-length documentary currently making the rounds at film festivals. Entitled Can You Hear Me? and directed by Pedro Ballesteros, the film trails Plensa over a period of 18 months as he oversees the fabrication and installation of ambitious sculptures around the world, from New York’s Hudson Yards to the island of Porquerolles in the South of France.

Embracing Laura

Plensa says that Laura, which he fabricated in a studio in Calgary, was actually completed in 2019, but that its installation was delayed for more than a year due to the global shutdown. “Last year was very strange, no?” he said. “It was like we were living in a cloud.” For the first time in his career, Plensa was tasked with supervising one of his installations remotely. Using Zoom and “a steady exchange of photos,” he and his technicians in Barcelona were able to direct the installation of Laura, which was completed by his team in Calgary. “I was nervous,” he admitted. “But they did a beautiful job.” 

The successful installation in Century Plaza paved the way for two more remote installations: Utopia, a grouping of four white marble heads, at Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Dreaming, a head of polyester resin and marble dust, in downtown Toronto. Still, Plensa admitted that until he is able to visit these works in person, they remain in his mind “not quite finished.” 

“I can’t feel settled until I have been there in person to verify everything,” he said. “The installation is always a crucial part of a site-specific work.” With Laura, he noted that he’s particularly interested in viewing the sculpture from the viewpoint of the iconic balconies of the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel. “I think it will be very beautiful for people on those balconies to see the sculpture centered in the dark reflecting pool. With the reflection of the sky above, I imagine the effect to suggest the idea of infinity.”

Most of all, he says he’s eager to see how Laura becomes a part of the street life of Century City. “I am always eager to witness the way people interact with my work and how they use it,” he says. “I would love to hear someone say, ‘Let’s meet at Laura.’”