MANOLA VALDES: SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER
MARLBOROUGH GALLERY NEW YORK
October 17, 2013 - November 23, 2013
MANOLA VALDES: SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER
MARLBOROUGH GALLERY NEW YORK
October 17, 2013 - November 23, 2013
The Directors of Marlborough Gallery are pleased to announce an
exciting exhibition of new sculpture and large-scale collaged drawings by the
world-renowned Spanish artist, Manolo Valdés.
This will be Valdés’ first major sculpture show at Marlborough New
York since 2002 and the first show of his large-scale collaged works. There
will be approximately forty sculptures ranging in size from eighteen to sixty
inches in height, and to be shown on the terrace, two monumental sculptures,
one in aluminum measuring fourteen by twenty-six feet and the other in bronze
and cor-ten steel measuring twelve by twenty feet. The smaller sculptures will
include works made from a wide range of materials such as bronze, brass,
aluminum, wood and iron. Several sculptures manifest variations of Valdés’
iconic subject of a head and a headdress made up of forms taken from
captivating motifs. For the most part, in this exhibition the motifs are
butterflies (mariposas), delicate leaf ferns, and a swirling fan-like form. The
show will also include several variations of sculptures with the theme of a
woman on a horse. These works, which are about five feet in height, are both
powerful and poised and evince the intrinsic elegance which defines all Valdés’
work whether in sculpture, painting, or drawing. Nowhere is this more evident
than in the large-scale (ninety inches high) collaged drawings, of which the
show will have approximately ten. In most of the collages the subject is a
woman’s profile with a headdress and the face is covered with a translucent
veil. The image recalls a Renaissance figure and the profiles are set against
striking solid colors of bright pink, vivid red, emerald green, or cobalt blue,
among others.
Valdés uses art from the past as a major source of inspiration. He
looks to the old masters such as Velázquez, Cranach, and Fra Filippo Lippi as
well as modernists like Picasso and Matisse. However, he finds more than
inspiration in the works of these artists; he uses their art “as a pretext”
(como pretexto) to create an entirely new aesthetic object. For example, in
this exhibition the sculptures devoted to a woman on a horse are inspired by
Velázquez’s equestrian portraits of the royal court of Spain, particularly that
of Isabel de Borbón, the Queen of Spain from 1621-1644. Valdés distills this
seventeenth-century image to its essence by eliminating everything but the
form, and then recreates a new image. Like the burlap Valdes employs in his
paintings, the sculptural material can appear rough-hewn; however, the image’s evocation
is, contrarily, at once stately and elegant. Similar to the simplification of
details in the sculptures, the collages depict only the outline of faces while
the headdresses and clothing are intricately decorated. The elimination of
facial features adds to the regality and timelessness of the busts, and the
paper that projects from the surface in graceful curls and mounds gives them
life.
In an interview from 2008, Valdés comments on the juxtaposition
between the static faces of the sculptures and their dynamic headdresses,
stating, “I must admit that I adore the pronounced tension that is established
between the two parts; it’s as if they were two entirely different sculptures.
And the challenge is having them function as a harmonious whole, as well as
allowing their initial different formulation to be seen not as something
separate but as something enriching.”
Valdés is one of the few contemporary artists who have successfully
mastered the disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpture and print making. Born
in Valencia, Spain in 1942 he began his training as a painter at the age of
fifteen when he entered the Fine Arts Academy of San Carlos in Valencia. In
1964 Valdés along with Rafael Solbes and Joan Toledo formed an artistic team
called Equipo Crónica. Toledo soon left the association, but Valdés and Solbes
continued to collaborate until Solbes’ premature death in 1981. American and
British Pop Art had a strong influence on the artists and encouraged them to
use their own pop style to experiment with format, image appropriation and
social and political references, specifically to the dictatorship of Franco.
Following Solbes’ death, Valdés reinvented himself, creating the paradoxically
muscular and refined expressive style centered on art-historical motifs that he
continues to explore today.
Valdés lives and works in New York and Madrid.
Recent retrospectives of Valdés’ paintings, sculpture, and graphic
work have been held at the Guggenheim Bilbao in 2002, Madrid’s Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in 2006, The Naples Museum of Art, Florida, in 2011,
and the Pera Museum, Istanbul, in 2013.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Monumental Sculpture (2013), New
York Botanical Gardens, New York; Manolo Valdés, À Chambord (2010), Château du
Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France; Manolo Valdés: Monumental Sculpture on Broadway
(2010), Broadway Mall, New York; Manolo Valdés in Beijing (2008), National Art
Museum of China, Beijing, China; Manolo Valdés, Las Meninas (2008), The State
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; Manolo Valdés at Bryant Park (2007),
New York, New York; Manolo Valdés. Escultura Monumental (2006-2009), organized
by Arte en La Calle, Fundación “la Caixa,” Obra Social, traveled throughout
Spain to Valladolid Cordoba, Valencia, A Coruña, Palma de Mallorca, Sevilla,
Bilbao, Burgos, Barcelona, Saragosa, Almeria, Logroño, Salamanca, Murcia, and
Málaga; and Les Menines de Valdés (2005), Jardins du Palais Royal, Paris,
France.
Valdés’ work may be found in more than forty public collections
worldwide, including the following: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy;
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany; Menil Foundation, Houston, Texas;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Modern Museet Art, Stockholm, Sweden;
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Museo
Nacional Centre de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, Texas; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts and The Museum
of Modern Art, New York, New York.
You may visit to see and read my latest news about Manolo Valdes
Exhibition at Pera Museum and Manolo Valdes’s interview to click below links.
MARIANA X – 2008
MARIANA V, 2008
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 41 x 27 1/2 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
MARIANA XII, 2008
From the Mariana I- XII series
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 40 x 27 1/2 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
MARIANA XI, 2008
From the Mariana I- XII series
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 40 x 27 1/2 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
LAS MENINAS V, 2000
LAS MENINAS X, 2000
From the Las Meninas I-X series
Etching
Dimensions: 25 x 19 inches
Edition of XX
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
DAMA A CABALLO II, 2013
Collage
Dimensions: 74 x 90 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
DAMA A CABALLO II, 2012
Alabaster
Dimensions: 32 1/4 x 33 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
JUNO II, 2013
Brass
Dimensions: 34 x 25 x 16 inches
Edition of 9
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
CHIARA I – 2003
IVY, 2012
Bronze and Iron With Patina
Dimensions: 41 x 63 x 29 inches
Edition of 9
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
CUBISMO COMO PRETEXTO V, 2004
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: Image: 17 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches
Sheet: 25 1/2 x 20 inches
Edition of XXV
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
EDNA II, 2012
Bronze
Dimensions: 64 x 20 x 11 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
ANABELLA, 2003
From the Anabella I-II series
Etching With Unique Color Collage
Dimensions: Image: 8 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
Sheet: 16 1/2 x 13 inches
Edition of 40
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELECHOS II, 2012
Bronze and Iron
Dimensions:
Edition of 9
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
CHIARA II, 2003
From the Chiara I-XI series
Etching With Unique Color Collage
Dimensions: Image: 16 3/4 x 12 5/8 inches
Sheet: 24 3/4 x 18 1/2 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
DAMA A CABALLO, 2013
Wood
Dimensions: 61 x 63 x 17 1/2 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
DAMA A CABALLO I, 2013
Collage
Dimensions: 74 x 90 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
PERFIL II, 2013
Collage
Dimensions: 90 x 67 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
PERFIL I, 2013
Collage
Dimensions: 90 x 67 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELENE III, 2005
From the Helene I- X series
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 65 x 38 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELENE IV – 2005
HELENE VII, 2005
From the Helene I-X series
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 65 x 38 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
PERFIL VIII, 2013
Collage
Dimensions: 65 x 47 inches
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELENE IX, 2005
From the Helene I-X series
Etching With Collage
Dimensions: 65 x 38 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELENE II, 2005
Etching With Unique Color Collage
Dimensions: Image: 18 x 12 1/2 inches
Sheet: 25 x 19 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
HELENE I – 2005
PERFIL – 2013
PERFIL V – 2013
INFANTA MARGARITA, 1991
Etching With Hand Coloring, on Handmade Paper Applied
With
Beige Tint by the Artist Before Printing
Dimensions: 51 5/8 x 38 1/4 inches
Edition of 51
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
INFANTA, 1991
Etching With Unique Color Collage on Handmade Paper
Applied With Beige Wash Before Printing
Dimensions: 51 5/8 x 38 1/4 inches
Edition of 51
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
LILLIE V, 2007
Color Etching and Silkscreen
Dimensions: Image: 13 x 9 1/2 inches
Sheet: 21 x 15 inches
Edition of 50
© Artist Manolo Valdes 2013
THE CARTIER 2008
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MANOLO VALDES
Manolo Valdés is one of few artists today who has successfully
mastered the disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking. In
each medium he shows himself to be technically skilled, highly original and
unceasingly provocative. Born in Valencia, Spain in 1942, he began his training
as a painter at the age of 15 when he entered the Fine Arts Academy of San
Carlos, Valencia.
In 1964 Valdés, Rafael Solbes and Joan Toledo collaborated to form Equipo
Crónica, an artistic team that utilized Pop Art to question the Spanish
dictatorship of Francisco Franco and the history of art itself. After the group
dissolved in 1981, Valdés reinvented himself.
He draws heavily upon Spanish artistic heritage, particularly the
work of Velázquez and the informalismo of his immediate predecessors
Manolo Millares, Antonio Saura and Antoni Tàpies. Using etching, silkscreen and
collage techniques, the prints of Manolo Valdés reference these and other
masters, including Rembrandt, Rubens and Matisse, creating an intellectual
twist that brings significant historical works out of their original context.
Today Valdés lives and works in New York and Madrid.
The works of Manolo Valdés can be seen in numerous public and
private collections including: Fonds National d’Arts Plastiques, Paris, France; Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Barcelona, Spain; Fundación del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain; Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia,
Spain; Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany; Kunstmuseum, Berlin, Germany; The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Musée National d’Art Moderne,
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City,
Mexico; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,
Madrid, Spain; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem,
Belgium.
