Mateo Manaure

MATEO MANAURE (Uracoa, Venezuela, 1926- Caracas, Venezuela 2018).
"Structure in space", 1970.
Acrylic and wood. Signed on the back.
Presents label on the back of the Durban Gallery (Caracas).
Measurements: 100 x 100 cm.
This work of Mateo Manaure presents a geometric pattern of optical style, characterized by the repetition of angular and rectilinear forms that generate a sensation of depth and movement. The composition is dominated by dark and contrasting tones: black, white, gray and an intense red, which are arranged in parallel and diagonal bands. The lines are interspersed in different thicknesses and directions, creating a visual sequence that seems to extend indefinitely, evoking an architectural structure or a design of great mathematical rigor.
The work reflects the influence of optical and kinetic art, in which Manaure explored repetitive visual patterns and illusory effects. Angles and lines generate a kind of visual vibration that seems to move according to the viewer's perspective. This focus on the use of geometric shapes and solid colors is characteristic of Manaure's abstract and geometric exploration, and suggests an interest in the interplay between form, color and perception. The meticulous repetition and precision of the design invites detailed contemplation, highlighting Manaure's ability to play with visual perception and symmetry.

Mateo Manaure began his connection with the art world since his childhood, so he decided in 1939 to become a professional, studying at the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Caracas until 1947. This training was complemented with his plastic experience in the studio of the painter Pedro Angel. During this period his painting reflected traditional themes in an experimental way, in which a young artist sought his own personality in his work. In 1947, after finishing his studies in Venezuela, he decided to move to what was then the European capital of art. Arriving in Paris, he decided to continue his academic training, but at the same time, the cultural activity of the city and the social and artistic effervescence of the moment led him to join the artistic group "Los Disidentes". An artistic group formed before Manaure's arrival and which experimented plastically with neo-figurative art, receiving influences from the abstract movement and other currents of contemporary art. They broke with figurative art. That is why Paris has been considered a turning point in the painting of Manaure whose incursion into abstraction will make him a master of it, evolved in the representation of that style. Later he returned to Venezuela where he decided to create the Taller Libre de Artes de Caracas, through which his painting received aesthetic and conceptual influences from surrealism, which was a movement that had had a great force in the Latin American continent, with such notable examples as Wilfredo Lam. In 1952, on his return to the country, he also decided to create the Cuatro Muros Gallery, partnering with Carlos Garcia Bogen. It was in the 60's when Manaure returned to the plastic language of abstract character through a conception of a lyrical and even narrative character that his previous compositions had not had. Today Manaure's works belong to important art collections, both private and public, such as the MoMA in New York.