Now On View: Jaume Plensa’s Beyond Silence in Chicago

Jaume Plensa’s Beyond Silence, now on view at GRAY Chicago, brings together three distinct bodies of sculpture through a study of scale and material. The exhibition includes two 28-foot carved-wood reliefs, three seven-foot sculptures combining cast iron and granite, and a group of smaller bronze works from the Twilight series. It is Plensa’s tenth solo exhibition with the gallery and remains on view through December 19, 2026.

The two monumental reliefs, Beyond Silence (Julia) and Beyond Silence (Maria), occupy the length of the gallery. Carved in wood and supported by steel, each stretches 28 feet across the space, where the works relate directly to the exposed wooden trusses of the building. The scale changes the way the human face is encountered. Rather than appearing as an independent sculptural object, it becomes part of the architecture.

Plensa has returned to the human figure throughout his career, particularly to faces with closed eyes. In Beyond Silence, the carved faces are enlarged to a scale that places them between portraiture and architecture. The works remain recognizably human, while their size shifts the emphasis from individual likeness to presence within the surrounding space.

The three sculptures from the new Clouds series introduce a different physical register. Standing seven feet high, they combine cast iron with granite, bringing together a dark industrial material and the smoother surface of stone. The contrast between the two materials is visible in both texture and weight, while the vertical forms create a more contained presence than the expansive wooden reliefs.

At approximately 20 inches high, the bronze works from the Twilight series bring the figure down to an intimate scale. Seen alongside the monumental reliefs and the Clouds sculptures, they make the changes in proportion particularly apparent. The same interest in the human figure is experienced differently depending on how close the viewer stands and how much of the surrounding space the work occupies.

This movement between monumental and intimate scale has been a recurring part of Plensa’s practice. His work has frequently entered architectural and public settings, where sculpture can alter the perception of a building, plaza or landscape. In Chicago, his Crown Fountain, installed in Millennium Park in 2004, uses the faces of Chicago residents as the basis for a large-scale public installation. Beyond Silence is presented within a gallery, but its relationship with architecture remains central to the way the work is experienced.

The choice of materials is equally varied. Plensa has worked across stone, steel, glass, wood, bronze, water, light, sound and other media over more than four decades. Here, the exhibition narrows that range to a combination of carved wood, steel, cast iron, granite and bronze, allowing differences in surface, weight and scale to become the organizing principles of the presentation.

The title Beyond Silence also connects with Plensa’s wider interest in introspection and the human condition. His closed-eyed figures often appear withdrawn from their surroundings, even when they are placed in highly public or architectural environments. In Chicago, that inward quality is set against works that are physically difficult to overlook, creating a contrast between monumental presence and quiet expression.

The exhibition does not rely on a single material or format to define the artist’s approach. Instead, the reliefs, Clouds sculptures and Twilight bronzes show how the same interest in the human figure can change according to proportion and medium. At one end are faces measured in feet and integrated into the gallery architecture; at the other are bronzes small enough to be approached as individual objects.

For Plensa, scale is not simply a question of size. It determines the distance between sculpture and viewer and, in turn, changes the character of the encounter. Beyond Silence makes that relationship visible by placing markedly different proportions and materials within the same exhibition.

Exhibition: Beyond Silence Artist: Jaume Plensa Venue: GRAY Chicago Location: Chicago, USA Dates: September 17 – December 19, 2026

Artist website: Jaume Plensa