Ramon Enrich Pool

Catalan painter Ramón Enrich creates images both hypnotic and surreal that are filled with geometric and architectural shapes, including flat-roof homes, stair labyrinths and cone trees. His distinct, grid pattern style is reminiscent of building planning, and is joined with a sophisticated use of color and light.

Enrich began his art studies in 1985 at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. He majored in graphic arts at the Gremi d’Arts Gràfiques de Catalunya and studied art history at the University of Barcelona. As a student, he traveled on school exchanges to the Beaux-Arts de Paris and Berlin’s University of the Arts before moving to the United States. He sought out American artist Donald Judd and English painter David Hockney and spent time learning from them at the Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation. 

Enrich wished to learn how to “organize one’s life as an artist.” His methodological approach is evident in his work, as he often begins a painting with a grid pattern and adds building structures according to the blueprint. While Enrich’s strict, sharp lines map his paintings, his use of warm colors and light offers a playful counterpoint, giving the work a serene sense of balance.

Enrich has exhibited his work in galleries worldwide for over three decades. Major museums with his art in their collections include the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany; the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa; and the Museu-Arxiu de Sant Andreu de Llavaneres in Barcelona, Spain. Private collectors include David Hockney, English architect Norman Foster and the Donald Judd Collection. Companies like Spanish banks La Caixa and Banco Santander, the Spanish telecommunications company Fundación Telefónica and German investment banking company Deutsche Bank have also collected Enrich’s work.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Ramón Enrich’s paintings, mixed media, sculptures and more.

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

Figurative sculptures mix reality and imagination, with the most common muse being the human body. Animals are also inspirations for these sculptures, along with forms found in nature.

While figurative sculpture dates back over 35,000 years, the term came into popularity in the 20th century to distinguish it from abstract art. It was aligned with the Expressionist movement in that many of its artists portrayed reality but in a nonnaturalistic and emotional way. In the 1940s, Alberto Giacometti — a Swiss-born artist who was interested in African art, Cubism and Surrealism — created now-iconic representational sculptures of the human figure, and after World War II, figurative sculpture as a movement continued to flourish in Europe.

Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were some of the leading figurative artists during this period. Artists like Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan propelled the evolution of figurative sculpture into the 21st century.

Figurative sculptures can be whimsical, uncanny and beautiful. Their materials range from stone and wood to metal and delicate ceramics. Even in smaller sizes, the sculptures make bold statements. A bronze sculpture by Salvador Dalí enhances a room; a statuesque bull by Jacques Owczarek depicts strength with its broad chest while its thin legs speak of fragility. Figurative sculptures allow viewers to see what is possible when life is reimagined.

Browse 1stDibs for an extensive collection of figurative sculptures and find the next addition to your collection.