::Mitsubishiman

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Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Des Moines, Iowa �Nomade� Artist: Jaume Plensa (Spanish, born 1955) Dimensions: Overall: 27 � 17 � 18 ft., 12000 lb. (823.2 � 518.3 � 548.8 cm., 5443.2 kg.) Credit Line: Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of John and Mary Pappajohn, 2015.3 Jaume Plensa uses letters as the basic components of much of his art, which explores communication issues whether between individuals or cultures. This work depicts a crouching, anonymous figure, with a "skin" composed of letters from the Latin alphabet. The sculpture exemplifies Plensa's ongoing interest in ideas presented in written text, as well as the human body and how it perceives the world around it. He has described individual letters or symbols as components that have little or no meaning on their own, but blossom into words, thoughts, and language when combined with others. Plensa's screens of letters offer a metaphor for human culture, in which a person alone has limited potential, but when formed into groups or societies, becomes stronger. Nomade engages the viewer on many levels, from our recognition of the letters that form the shape, to our own physical interaction with the work as we view it from afar or from inside the work's interior space.