Guillem Viladot, Unceasing Experimentation

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The exhibition Guillem Viladot, l’experimentació incessant by Guillem Viladot (1922-1999), curated by Pau Minguet, aims to re-establish an artist on the geographical periphery who was abreast with, and participated in, the cutting-edge radical experimentation of his day.  

Born into a family of pharmacists, Viladot combined the profession of apothecary with frenetic activity in the fields of letters and the visual arts. Based in Agramunt in Ribera del Sió, he produced a vast poetic, narrative and objective output. He entered the Catalan cultural scene in the 1950s, creating strong ties with the main figures of the day. It was with the help of Josep Iglésias del Marquet that he set up Lo Pardal, a company that published experimental poetry in the late 1960s in Agramunt. In 1980 he exhibited in the Galeria Maeght in Barcelona his series Iconografies de l’ús i de l’oci (Iconographies of Use and Leisure), a project which over time has become to be seen as one of Viladot’s most important contributions to the world of Catalan visual art.  

A remarkable figure in himself, he opened a museum with all the pieces he made. Viladot provides us with material to circumvent all the romantic or even condescending preconceptions we may have of rural life. To promote the figure of Viladot is to promote the idea that, although being geographically marginalized in an agricultural town in the Urgell region, it is possible to be at the forefront of radical artistic exploration. He conducted his own exploration, with a wealth of transformations, without ever losing touch with his roots.

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