World Art Day is a celebration that aims to promote the development, dissemination, and promotion of art. Despite often clashing, science and art constitute two complementary ways of seeing and discovering what surrounds us. With the aim of closing the gap between the two disciplines and enabling art to enter facilities where research is conducted so that the researchers can enjoy it, the Suñol Foundation and the Glòria Soler Foundation have loaned the work Trodotz by Zush/Evru to IDIBAPS.
Born in Barcelona in 1946, Albert Porta adopted the name Zush in 1968. He would maintain this alias until the year 2001, from which time he would become known as Evru. Self-taught, he defines himself as ArtSciMyst, in other words, artist, scientist and mystic. He started drawing at a very young age, but it was not until the year 1962 that he made deeper inroads into the art world, hand-in-hand with French gallery owner René Metras. His work was exhibited in public for the first time in 1964, however it was in 1968 that his career reached a turning point when he decided to create the Evrugo Mental State, in contrast with the traditional States which he viewed as obsolete models, with its own language and currency. Thanks to various grants he studied Holography applied to Art at the M.I.T. in Boston, something which is reflected in his works from the 1980s, which integrate technology into art. As well as having exhibited at numerous important museums, such as the Guggenheim in New York or the Pompidou in Paris, he has also received various awards. Examples are the National Print Award in 1997, the Laus Award in 1999, the Ciutat de Barcelona Award in 2000 and the ACCA Art Critics Award in 2003.
The Glòria Soler Foundation has a long track record of collaboration with the Clínic Barcelona-IDIBAPS through the funding of two research projects with a major impact for society: the ARI project, for support for immunotherapy with CART cells and the IDBAPS COVIDBANK, which collects samples from patients with COVID-19 admitted to the Clínic Barcelona in order to advance in knowledge of the disease. In 2023 the Glòria Soler Foundation, together with the Suñol Foundation, is starting a project with IDIBAPS to generate a new social impact through the union of art and science.
Until 20 May, the Suñol Foundation will be hosting the exhibition Zush in Ibiza, covering a period from 1968 to 1983 of great creativity for the artist. In the near future, workers at IDIBAPS will be offered the possibility of enjoying guided tours of the exhibition.
About the Suñol Soler Collection
The Suñol Soler Collection is the legacy of the collector and philanthropist Josep Suñol Soler, which brings together art and philanthropy as engines of social transformation through its two non-profit foundations: the Suñol Foundation, which promotes contemporary art and the Glòria Soler Foundation, which promotes initiatives in the social, humanistic and global health fields.