Just off the Carretera de Mieres, a road between Banyoles and St. Miquel de Campmajor, in northern Catalunya, the thick stretch of forest looks like any other.
Deep green clutches of trees cling to the hills. Lush, small meadows nestle into woodland clearings. An occasional bird of prey circles overhead. It would be hard to guess that just out of sight, veiled by the juniper and pine trees and cordoned off by elaborate iron gates, there lies a six-hectare paradise of erotic art, neatly spaced and elegantly presented throughout the forest.
All the exhibits within the forest are his own work, a collection which has grown to well over pieces since the Seventies. Cabanyes is known for his bold style and sensual aesthetics, and the open-air gallery contains a mixture of enigmatic curvaceous abstracts, provocative larger-than-life genitalia, and explicit nudes in various poses.
Situated in the Porqueres region, about two hours drive north of Barcelona, the enclosed forest sprawls loosely up a gradual hill. Further up the hillside the forest opens out to spectacular views of the Pyrenees, still capped with a white frost even in a baking summer sun.
Alongside the views stands a stone half-man, half-woman, growing from the same body into two separate kissing heads. On another peak is Monument al llit , a four-pillared statue, headed by death in one corner and a pregnant woman in another. The carved abstracts are blended into the landscape by a greenish lichen coating their bases, and are designed to catch and filter rainwater with striking optical effects, through a series of intricate channels.
