Ricardo Bofill. Architect. Barcelona 1939

Something of a paradox, this invented and contradictory two-part term is said of certain members of the intellectual elite of Catalonia and especially the city of Barcelona. / The individuals thus described tend to defend the personalisation of thought. Ideas, drawings, paintings, architecture, designs and cinema, pertain to an individual’s own way of seeing the world. Ideas are defended unequivocally, persuasively, with great energy and enthusiasm. This approach, defended by Oscar Tusquets, permits one to change one’s mind over the course of time and defend new ideas with the same passion and conviction. / The radical-versatile individual, hard-working and talented, exercises several artistic disciplines over the course of his life, and strives to bring them to the level of excellence demanded by his own originality and professionalism. Ideologies become secondary and their essential, ultimate reference is the “Rinas-cimentale” artist. For one from a small, rather ill-defined country, this is the best means of achieving universality. It involves constant struggle, with oneself and against a certain type of “globalisation”. In this struggle, talent, vivacity, contradiction and paradox give rise to a monster, a unique individual, which is often prohibited in other cultures. Only those potential “geniuses” who believe in the need to survive in an anonymous and commercialised world can aspire to be both radical and versatile.