Manuel Rivera

MANUEL RIVERA HERNÁNDEZ (Granada, 1928 - Madrid, 1995).
"Dark mirror", 1971.
Mixed media (metal mesh and wire) on painted wood structure.
Signed in the lower right corner. Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Provenance: Juana Mordó Gallery.
Measurements: 100 x 81 cm.

Manuel Rivera, founding member of the group El Paso, defends in his works the use of the matter by itself. He turns metallic fabrics into a means of expression and even introduces hooks, buckles or wires that symbolically sew wounds or allude to tearing. The space-light also acquires a relevant role in his production, achieving optical vibrations that provoke a moiré effect and glazes of light and dark. On this occasion Rivera continues with his characteristic abstract language based on irregular geometry, with an organic character in the arrangement of the metal mesh. It is an open style, whose fundamental characteristic is the conception of the sculptural surface as a whole, as an open field, without limits and without hierarchies.

Manuel Rivera was a founding member of the influential "El Paso group", being one of the pioneers and introducers of the Spanish avant-garde art movement after World War II. Rivera began his training as a sculptor in the workshop of Martín Simón, his interests diverted towards painting and he trained at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Sevilla (now part of the University of Seville) where he began his studies in 1945 at the age of 18. His first major exhibition was at the Press Association of Granada in 1947. After completing his training, he moved to Madrid in 1951, where he became known as a painter of murals and frescoes in public spaces and churches. This led him to receive commissions as a muralist and fresco painter in cities throughout Spain. Initially his work explored the style of figurative art, although in the 1950s he turned to abstraction. In 1953 he participated in the Congress of Abstract Art in Santander. In 1957 he co-founded the group El Paso in Madrid with his colleagues Rafael Canogar, Luis Feito, Juana Francés, Manolo Millares, Pablo Serrano, Antonio Suárez and Antonio Saura. From 1957 to 1960, Rivera and the other artists of this group jointly presented several exhibitions in Spain and abroad that had a profound impact on the development of Spanish art. The last exhibition of the group took place at the L'Attico gallery in Rome in 1960. The Marlborough Gallery presented a retrospective exhibition of the group's works entitled "El Paso, 1957-1960" in May and June 2004. In 1967 Rivera began experimenting with artistic techniques and ideas from Asian cultures. In 1981 he received the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts of Spain. He also received the Cross of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France. He is currently represented at the British Museum in London, the MoMA in New York, the Musée National d'Art Moderne de la Villa in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Zurich, the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca, the Tate Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and many others.