Manolo Valdés

MANOLO VALDÉS BLASCO (Valencia, 1942).
"Iberian Lady", 2003.
Ceramic on polyester and fiber base. Exemplary I/II.
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by the author.
Measurements: 165 x 130 x 150 cm.
The original model of the "Iberian Lady" of Valdes is a sculpture composed of 22,000 blue ceramic heads, 20 cm, mounted on a metal structure. The sculpture, placed in the center of a fountain, is 18 m high on a concrete pedestal, and the side pieces are 16 m in diameter. It is located in Valencia, at the intersection of Avenida de Las Cortes Valencianas and Calle La Safor. It was inaugurated in February 2007, and its execution was made possible thanks to the patronage agreement signed by the Valencia City Council, Manolo Valdés and the promoters Lladró and Vallehermoso.
In the words of Rafael Rivera, "La Dama Ibérica by Manolo Valdés is a sculpture of sculptures, a piece composed of other blue ceramic pieces, of smaller size but of similar formalization, placed in a hidden order to compose the larger piece. They are all anonymous, identical, but essential. The light, the reflection, the color, the transparency, the emptiness, are the other elements, incorporeal, that compose many sculptures within the sculpture, different images that speak to us of the day and the night, of the sun and the moon, of the dawn and the sunset. No look is the same as any other, no perception can be repeated, and whenever we raise our heads to contemplate it we will have the impression of seeing it for the first time".
Manolo Valdés introduced in Spain a form of artistic expression that combines political and social commitment with humor and irony. He began his training in 1957, when he entered the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia. However, two years later he abandoned his studies to devote himself fully to painting. In 1964 he founded the artistic group Equipo Crónica, together with Juan Antonio Toledo and Rafael Solbes, in which he remained until the latter's death in 1981, despite the fact that Toledo had left the group two years after its foundation. Since then he has settled in New York, where he currently resides and where he has continued to experiment with new forms of expression, including sculpture. Among the numerous awards Manolo Valdés has received are the Lissone and Biella of Milan (1965), the silver medal of the II International Biennial of Engravings of Tokyo (1979), the prize of the Bridgestone Art Museum in Lisbon (1979), the National Prize of Plastic Arts (1983), the medal of the International Festival of Plastic Artists of Baghdad (1986), the Decoration of the Order of Andres Bello in Venezuela (1993), the award of the National Council of Monaco (1997), the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts (1998), the Award of the Spanish Association of Art Critics (2000) and the Best Print Artist Award (2002), among others. With Equipo Crónica, Valdés used figuration as a vehicle of expression for his approaches, for his criticisms of art, society and politics, but prioritizing above any other content the pure act of painting. From the thematic point of view, Valdés was inspired by the art of the great masters of painting: Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Ribera or Zurbarán, and he never hides his models, but rather emphasizes them, even in the titles of his works. Formally, he creates a large format work in which lights and colors express tactile values, due to the treatment given to the materials. His work forces the observer to delve into memory and search for significant images of the history of art. Valdés is represented in some of the most outstanding museums around the world, such as the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Metropolitan, the MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Georges Pompidou Center and the Fons National d'Arts Plastiques in Paris, the Kusnthalle in Hamburg, the Kunstmuseum in Berlin and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao, among many others.