Manuel Marín

MANUEL MARÍN (Cieza, Murcia, 1942 - Málaga, 2007).
Untitled, c. 1959.
Polychrome iron. Unique piece.
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by Mrs. Monika Rabassa, widow of the artist.
It has very slight wear.
Signed.
Measurements: 130 x 184 x 58 cm.
Unique sculpture made in polychrome iron that is articulated from a contained composition of great formal sobriety. The whole is dominated by black, interrupted only by white elements that burst with force in the chromatic unity of the piece, this minimal but decisive contrast concentrates the viewer's attention and activates the visual reading of the work, generating a point of tension within an apparently balanced structure. The choice of such a reduced palette reinforces the clarity of the formal language and brings the piece closer to postulates close to neoplasticism, where color is understood as an essential constructive component.
On the other hand, the fact that it is a mobile sculpture introduces a variable dimension in the work, in which space becomes a field of changing relationships. The balance is never definitive, but is constantly changing, evoking the influence of Alexander Calder in the conception of movement as a sculptural element.
Manuel Marín began bullfighting at the age of ten and made his debut at sixteen, but at twenty he moved to London, where he worked in an art gallery and turned to sculpture. There he collaborated with Henry Moore as an assistant in the creation of bronze works. In 1964 he settled in New York, where he was an art restorer before opening The American Indian Art Gallery, with clients including Warhol, Basquiat, De Kooning and Keith Haring. In 1969 he began making his own sculptures, influenced by mobile art, and in 1970 he presented his first exhibition at the Alan Brown Gallery in Scarsdale. His work has been exhibited internationally and currently has public monuments in the United States and Spain, as well as being present in collections in different countries.