Robert Llimós: "The training I received at the Escola Massana helped me understand art better"

Since last January, the Mater Casa Museu has been presenting the exhibition Tradition and Own Materiality Reflected , a unique proposal that explores the cultural ties between Catalonia and the Engadin region , Grisons (Switzerland). This cultural exchange highlights the historical and artistic connections that both regions share, such as language, traditional facade decoration techniques and Romanesque art.

The project brings together six prominent artists and poets from each territory , who, through their works, pay homage to their own identities and the common legacy that unites them. This cross-border collaboration not only celebrates shared cultural roots, but also invites us to reflect on the value of our local traditions and crafts.

Mater Casa Museu presents this initiative as an artistic and material dialogue between indigenous techniques from both regions , promoting mutual learning and a rediscovery of our own identity. By analyzing and comparing elements such as architecture, materials and traditional crafts such as sgraffito, the project enriches collective memory and reinforces shared cultural knowledge. This exhibition thus becomes a claim for self-knowledge and cultural enrichment.

Participating artists include Laura Bott (sculpture), Luis Schmidlin (drawing, poetry), Mazina Schmidlin-Könz (installation and sgraffito), Not Vital (engraving), Florio Puenter (photography), Marc Antoni Nay (historian) and Jaecklin (drawing, painting and video) from Engadin, and from Catalonia: Alica Casadesús & A. Clapés (drawing), Clay Hernández (video), Robert Llimós (sculpture and painting), Manel Rovira (sculpture and painting), Isidre Mateo (origami) and Rosa Vives (painting).

Mater Casa Museu is located in an emblematic medieval building from the 13th century. This space, located in Plaça de l'Oli in the Santa Caterina district of Barcelona, occupies the old Joan de Serrallonga gallery. The estate, witness to seven hundred years of Barcelona's architectural history.

This exhibition is open to the public until this July. One of the artists participating in this exhibition is Robert Llimós i Oriol (Barcelona, October 19, 1943) and we wanted to interview him at the Casa Mater in Barcelona.

Alexandra Planas.- Do you think that your vocation for the world of art has come to you through family inheritance or is it a passion that you have developed for yourself?

Robert Llimós.- I am the son of a painter and sculptor and from a very young age I was always interested in the world of art and culture and I grew up surrounded by brushes, canvases and sculptures. I could say that I was born with brushes in my hands , because art has always been part of my day to day life and, in a way, it was inevitable that I would end up dedicating myself to it.

AP- What memories do you have of your years of training at the Massana School and the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts?

R.Ll.- This school has been a very special place in my professional career, a space where I was able to experiment and grow both artistically and personally . Thanks to the training I received, I have had the opportunity to better understand art from a more open and participatory perspective.

AP-How did the collaboration with Arranz-Bravo, Bartolozzi and Gerard Sala come about? What did this period of teamwork bring to you personally and artistically?

R.Ll.- We met and after my training I decided to form a group with Rafael Santos Torroella, with these artists with whom I shared many concerns and style. This project lasted approximately five years and I can say that it went well, since we were able to collaborate and grow together. During this time we organized many exhibitions that were well received and it was a positive experience at all levels. We held exhibitions in Zaragoza, Sabadell, Bilbao, among other places.

AP-You stated that in 2009 you had a sighting of aliens on the beach in Fortaleza (Brazil). How has this experience influenced your work and your way of understanding art?

R.Ll.- Yes, in 2009 while I was walking through the Brazilian forests, I came across a ship surrounded by smoke and saw its crew. Since that moment I have not stopped obsessively painting and drawing these beings , who for me are like peaceful beings and that I usually paint them with a very varied range of fluorescent colors. I must admit that my creative path was marked by this encounter and that “imagination is nothing compared to reality”. I have reproduced these extraterrestrials by painting and drawing as well as with sculpture. Since the extraterrestrials had magnetic powers, they generated a magnetic field, which interferes with the cameras that make it impossible to photograph them or that they are distorted. Therefore, I am delighted that thanks to painting and drawing all this content has not been lost.

AP- You have work exhibited in museum collections around the world. What would it mean to you to see your work exhibited at the Casa Mater in Barcelona?

R.Ll.- I am very happy and grateful to be able to exhibit at the Casa Mater in Barcelona and to its director, Valentina Asinari di San Marzano (architect), who wanted to include me in her exhibition program this year. I am very excited to continue collaborating with her and her daughters (the Taifa), who are also actively participating in this project. For my part, I am very eager to continue creating from my workshop in Barcelona and to carry out new projects in our country, both national and international.