The Mallorcan artist Joan Bennàssar i Vives grew up in the small town of Pollença in the north of the island. He began his artistic training at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Palma (School of Arts and Crafts of Palma), and initially dedicated himself to figurative painting, mostly landscapes and still lifes with hyperrealistic features akin to expressionism. In Palma he was a student of Jaume Mir, who guided him towards sculpture. In 1969 he entered the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona, where he trained as a painter and sculptor, discovering the work of Antoni Tàpies, at the time a marginal artist, who had a notable impact on him, helping Bennàssar's work evolve and become more informal. Bennàssar's first solo exhibition was at the Pollença Club in 1971.

In the mid-seventies Bennàssar abandoned painting to focus on politics as an activist in the Spanish Workers Party, then at the end of the decade returned to his art, resulting in one of the most prolific stages of his career. In 1984 he exhibited at the Maeght gallery in Barcelona, a space he had a relationship with until well into the nineties, when as a mature artist he returned to his Mallorcan roots, producing paintings and sculptures reflecting the people and landscapes of his people, their history, traditions and roots. In the 2000s this included a major project on traditional island poems, Mallorca Eròtica, together with the writer Gabriel Janer i Manila.

The female figure is a constant theme in Bennàssar’s work, representing women not only from a beautiful and sensual point of view, but also celebrating the matriarchal society of the Mallorca of his childhood. In 2013 he was awarded the Jaume II Prize by the Consell Insular de Mallorca.

Bennàssar has exhibited in Palma, Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastián in Spain, plus Paris, New York and Los Angeles. One of his most recent projects is the production of a series of life-size sculptures placed around the coastal towns of Can Picafort, Son Serra de Marina and Santa Margalida, their rough-edged forms complementing the rugged landscape of northern Mallorca.

Joan Bennàssar’s website, with many examples of his work plus reviews and commentary, can be found here, and his Instagram account is here.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for introducing us to the work of this artist.