Manolo Valdés

MANOLO VALDÉS (Valencia, 1942).
"Kandinsky", 1984. Series "Reina Mariana as a pretext".
Etching on GVARRO paper. 58/75 copy.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Measurements: 42 x 30 cm (print) ; 76 x 56.5 cm (paper).
Manolo Valdés was born in Valencia on March 8, 1942. In 1957 he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos where he spent two years, abandoning his studies to devote himself to painting.
In 1964 he founded the artistic group Equipo Crónica together with Juan Antonio Toledo and Rafael Solbes, in which he remained until Solbes' death in 1981, even though two years after the group was founded, Toledo had left it.
After the death of Rafael Solbes he continued working alone in Valencia for a few years, until 1989, when he traveled to New York where he set up his studio and continued experimenting with new forms of expression. He belongs to the Marlborough Gallery and the Freites Gallery. He also set up a studio in Madrid for the realization of large sculptures, alternating his work in both cities.
Influenced by Velázquez, Rembrandt, Rubens and Matisse, Manolo Valdés creates a large format work in which lights and colors express a feeling of tactility by the treatment given to the materials. His work forces the viewer to delve into memory and search for significant images from the history of art.
In addition to the works exhibited as part of Equipo Crónica, Valdés had more than 70 solo and group exhibitions between 1965 and 1981. As a sculptor, he is the author of La Dama del Manzanares (2003), a 13-meter high work located in the Parque Lineal del Manzanares (Madrid). In 2005 he created the sculptural group Asturcones, for the city of Oviedo.
Valdés has received several awards, among which stand out: in 1965 the Lissone and Biella prizes, in Milan (Italy), in 1979, the Silver Medal of the II International Biennial of Engravings in Tokyo (Japan) and the Bridgestone Art Museum Prize in Lis'79 in Lisbon (Portugal); in 1983 the National Prize of Plastic Arts; the Alfons Roig Award, in Valencia; the National Prize of Fine Arts of Spain; in 1986 the Medal of the Biennial of the International Festival of Plastic Artists, in Baghdad (Iraq) and in 1993 the Decoration of the Order of Andres Bello in the class of Band of Honor, in Venezuela.
In 2012 he was in charge of designing the poster for the bullfighting season at the Real Maestranza de Caballería in Seville.