Guinovart, a fragment
2009
This documentary portrays the process of creating one of Guinovart's large-format abstract works and shows the artist working with fibrocement sheets. The material was filmed in 1978 by Lluís Montagut and Jose Civit and recovered in 2009.
An idea by Lluis Montagut and Jose Civit. Direction and editing: Marco Noris. Audio: Roberto Noris
Duration: 10:20 Year: 2009 Art direction and editing: Marco Noris Audio: Roberto Noris Video: Lluís Montagut and Jose Civit Coordination: Bernat Montagut and Elva Gigirey
The artist Josep Guinovart i Bertran (Barcelona, 1927–1997) was a renowned Catalan painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.
This documentary shows the creation process of one of Guinovart’s large-scale abstract works, in which he works with sheets of fibre cement.
The material was filmed in 1978 by Lluís Montagut and Jose Civit and recovered in 2009. The images were shot at the fibre-cement factory Uralita S.A. in Ripollet (Barcelona), inaugurated in 1907 and dismantled in 1997. The company is sadly notorious for the numerous cases of workers affected by asbestos toxicity.
Fibre cement retains its malleability only for a limited period of time, a circumstance that forces the artist to travel to the factory in order to carry out the work in situ.
The first sequences document the production process of the fibre-cement sheets: the paste passes through a series of rollers until it reaches the desired thickness; the workers then cut the sheet using a taut wire and adjust its dimensions with a guillotine before rolling it onto wooden rods. Under normal circumstances these sheets would proceed to the corrugation process, but in this case they are handed over to the artist to be freely shaped.
In a separate room, Guinovart works alongside his assistant, unfolding the sheet and experimenting with various techniques: placing hemispheres beneath the surface, rolling it over a log, manipulating it with his hands and tools, perforating it with tubes, and making incisions and drawings in the still-wet material.
The documentary concludes with a series of shots showing details of the finished work, bearing witness to a process in which art and industrial matter merge into a single creative gesture.