In the years after the Second World War, the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies (1923–2011) was in his early 20s and in search of his artistic voice. He was connected to the Surrealists, his paintings influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró. But in the early 1950s Tàpies found himself drawn to mixed media—a style called pintura matèrica (material painting). He coated his paintings with clay and marble dust, and began placing paper, strings, and even rags on his canvases. Tàpies was deft and profound in the art he made from odd matter. This exhibition focuses on the late artist’s fascination with symbols such as the cross (creus in Catalan). In a selection of works spanning six decades, his use of the ancient sign moves across time and materials. —Elena Clavarino