VIC, 1941 Pilarín Bayés

With his drawings he was able to summarize the historical and social circumstances that he has lived.

Pilarín was born in Vic in 1941, in the middle of Franco’s regime. She studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Barcelona and there she met the pedagogue Marta Mata, who introduced her to the professional world. In 1964 she published her first story for children, El meu pardal, in Editorial la Galera, and began to collaborate in the magazine Cavall Fort.

From the beginning until now, Pilarín has published more than 920 books, some translated into eight languages. She has collaborated in countless publications, exhibitions of original work, and her drawings have been applied to all kinds of media and formats. She is an artist committed to her country, Catalonia, and it is clearly reflected throughout her extensive work. Likewise, the great artistic and human quality has allowed her to illustrate any scenario, place or character from all over the world and from all times. In 1991 the Generalitat de Catalunya awarded him the Cross of Sant Jordi, and in April 2011, Vic awarded him the Gold Medal of the city. For this reason a large anthological exhibition Welcome to the circus of Pilarín was made, which would travel to different cities; the Sala Rusiñol presented it in 2013 under the title “The Circus of Pilarín in Sant Cugat”.

He is currently working on several editorial projects and various commissions. He continues to be active day after day, with an extensive and exciting artistic production.

THE UNIVERSALIST SPIRIT OF PILARÍN BAYÉS

by Josep M. Cadena

Without detracting from any of the other exhibitions that are usually held in Sant Cugat, the pictorial exhibitions that the art gallery Sala Rusiñol has been presenting for thirty-five years now stand out for their high artistic qualities and the variety of genres they offer to collectors and followers of the current creative scene in our country. And it is even more remarkable that in the current circumstances marked by the viral pandemic affecting all the countries of the world, the people in charge of this gallery, Ignasi and Victoria Cabanas, highlight their perseverance in favour of art and put on an exhibition as important as the one I now have the satisfaction of being able to present.

am referring, as you may already know, to the magnificent exhibition which, for the enjoyment of all the cultured spirits who see it, the Catalan painter and draughtswoman Pilarín Bayés is allowing us to enjoy. Born in Vic in 1941, she has reached a situation in which the very just praise received for the vital expressiveness of her strokes and the emotionality of her colours, with which she highlights the enduring strength of our virtues as a people, could place her in the comfort of no longer wishing to submit her work to the judgement of the gaze of others. However, our author continues to work and this time she exhibits an artistic series of great expressive power, in which she intelligently and always with great sensitivity visits the history of humanity and makes us full members of it.

Pilarín Bayés, Catalan and universal at the same time, makes the Chinese wall, the Inca Machu Picchu, the Egyptian pyramids, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia and many other wonders of the world coexist naturally. It comes and goes as far and as near over the centuries as the places on earth. And beyond distances of all kinds, the artist vindicates what is common to all of us as a basis of understanding that allows us all to advance and progress.

This is a splendid exhibition by Pilarín Bayés, both for its artistic value and for the encouragement it conveys to move forward.

TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE Sala Rusiñol CELEBRATED WITH THE JOY OF THE WORK OF PILARÍN BAYÉS

by Josep M. Cadena

The Rusiñol Gallery reaches twenty-seven years of existence, and does so with an exhibition of drawings by Pilarín Bayés, which also presents a book on his extensive work. It is a triple celebration, carried out with joy, with a desire to participate and with the desire to continue serving our society. In a time like today, where there is no shortage of problems, the existence of people who join forces with a will to progress is essential, and this commendable task is the one carried out by Ignacio and Victoria Cabanas -promotors and animators of the gallery. , well established in Sant Cugat and recognized throughout Catalonia-, Pilarín Bayés -smallly ardent and generous (you can not forget the sausages that he gives so profusely as proof of Catalan friendship), always with the drawing pencil in his hand- and the Editorial Norma – who has taken care of the book that is presented, entitled Con sombrero … or sin, and that believes in comics as a stimulus for society to improve itself.

Pilarín Bayés, protagonist of the exhibition and of the book, esteem the hats. He has many and never stops bringing new ones. She has the grace to know how to choose and show off, making them their own with the friendly personality found in everything she does and, as is natural, in the drawings she makes with no apparent effort, but with an exact sense of what the actuality of the Life needs art. That is why we have to celebrate the double event of the first exhibition of the artist among us -all an honor for the Rusiñol Gallery- and the presentation of the book.

With a hat … or without it is a biography and an analysis full of interest in the work of the artist in charge of María Ángeles Ferrer, who knows how to contextualize some events consigned with fidelity. At the same time, the journalist and art critic Jaume Vidal is careful to clarify the whys of Pilarín Bayés, a simple and smiling woman before the whole world, but with a rich background in experiences and thoughts. So we know that Pilarín, born in Vic in 1941, is a strong woman, who understands the complexities of life and has a deep knowledge of her trade, as the saying goes, in the interesting prologue that puts the work, that A cartoonist is not an exotic plant that blooms inside a glass bell, it is not a spontaneous genius. She knows that her personality is also the result of a complicated series of historical and social circumstances, which she managed to summarize, in her drawings, in a vision of our country full of teachings.

Socially committed to the roots of Catalonia, very deep and from which periodically emerges splendid flowers, despite the adverse weather that too often threatens us all, Pilarín Bayés also believes, in a firm and natural way, in the religious principles. And it is also estimated that children and people of good faith. All this is reflected in his work, I invite you to see with the same love that she has done.