language, visible

Jaume Plensa is a Barcelona artist whose most recognizable work is architectural-scale sculpture commissioned for sites throughout the world.

The Shard, itself a quite-recognizable elongated pyramidal structure at London Bridge, is home to one of Plensa’s most recent public artworks, “WE,” (photo above) which uses letters and characters from seven alphabets. (Follow the link to read and see more of WE.)

The artist’s use of language is both visual and metaphorical. To see more, have a look at his current exhibit at Fundación Bancaja in Valencia, Spain, “Poesía del silencio.” The site is in Spanish, but click through the Fotos to see the many ways that Plensa makes language — and silence — visible.