Manolo Valdés (1942)
Valencia
Valencia
The timelessness of the image as the axis of the visual experience is the determining factor in the production of the Valencian artist, Manolo Valdés. Timelessness, image and matter in a body of work that wanders between Pop Art and material art, between social and political commitment and a continuous search for reinvention.
Born in Valencia in 1942, his time at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts allowed him to make contact with the young artists of the time. Among them was Rafael Solbes, with whom he founded Equipo Crónica in 1964, together with Joan Toledo. Like El Paso or Dau al Set, Equipo Crónica is one of the reference points of Spanish Art in the second half of the twentieth century, and this makes it almost impossible to separate Valdés from this group even twenty-five years after Solbe’s death and the subsequent dissolution of the Equipo. Since that time in 1981, Manolo Valdés initiated an intensely solitary career, marked by the lifestyle of New York, where he established his studio, a private paradise where he can recreate his private universe.
Both in his early period with Equipo Crónica as well as in his later development by himself, image is a constant factor, going beyond concept. At first he showed close ties to the language of American Pop Art, and he turned to figuration as a device for social criticism stemming from his political commitment. His work is full of a sense of humor, even sarcasm, with large formats and flat colors.
Once he began to work alone, Manolo Valdés moved away from linear irony to interpret the image as a symbol and a vehicle for contact between the work of Art and the spectator. To this end he has continued to seek inspiration in the creations of the grand masters of the History of Art, such as Velázquez, Rembrandt or Goya. He reinterprets them in visual games that delve into cultural memory. As he himself has said, “painting is learned from painting.”
The production from this second artistic period also includes an abundance of graphic and sculptural pieces, ever larger in size, and in them one can note a marked turn towards a corporeal nature and a certain informalist tinge. In recent years, the materials he uses bring great sensuality to his work, and his media take on unusual prominence with damage and reconstruction that provide dramatic quality. His colors are no longer flat, but full of nuances.
Throughout his long career Valdés has never stopped investigating and reinventing Art, with an insatiable appetite for conceptual and plastic experimentation. The result is unanimous critical acclaim and recognition from a growing public for his works that can be found in the great museums of the world or are exhibited outdoors in the parks and gardens of major cities.
Born in Valencia in 1942, his time at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts allowed him to make contact with the young artists of the time. Among them was Rafael Solbes, with whom he founded Equipo Crónica in 1964, together with Joan Toledo. Like El Paso or Dau al Set, Equipo Crónica is one of the reference points of Spanish Art in the second half of the twentieth century, and this makes it almost impossible to separate Valdés from this group even twenty-five years after Solbe’s death and the subsequent dissolution of the Equipo. Since that time in 1981, Manolo Valdés initiated an intensely solitary career, marked by the lifestyle of New York, where he established his studio, a private paradise where he can recreate his private universe.
Both in his early period with Equipo Crónica as well as in his later development by himself, image is a constant factor, going beyond concept. At first he showed close ties to the language of American Pop Art, and he turned to figuration as a device for social criticism stemming from his political commitment. His work is full of a sense of humor, even sarcasm, with large formats and flat colors.
Once he began to work alone, Manolo Valdés moved away from linear irony to interpret the image as a symbol and a vehicle for contact between the work of Art and the spectator. To this end he has continued to seek inspiration in the creations of the grand masters of the History of Art, such as Velázquez, Rembrandt or Goya. He reinterprets them in visual games that delve into cultural memory. As he himself has said, “painting is learned from painting.”
The production from this second artistic period also includes an abundance of graphic and sculptural pieces, ever larger in size, and in them one can note a marked turn towards a corporeal nature and a certain informalist tinge. In recent years, the materials he uses bring great sensuality to his work, and his media take on unusual prominence with damage and reconstruction that provide dramatic quality. His colors are no longer flat, but full of nuances.
Throughout his long career Valdés has never stopped investigating and reinventing Art, with an insatiable appetite for conceptual and plastic experimentation. The result is unanimous critical acclaim and recognition from a growing public for his works that can be found in the great museums of the world or are exhibited outdoors in the parks and gardens of major cities.