A FRESH START WITH ART
In an historical moment in which borders once again pose limitations in terms of time and space, as well as metaphorically, it is once more art that gives us the opportunity to expand our horizon and look to the future with renewed optimism.
Museo di Palazzo Cipolla has art and culture at its core. It is located in Rome’s historic center, in the midst of solemn palazzi inhabited by great Roman families, on the ancient road that connects two of its most famous squares; Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Venezia. The exhibition on display in the magnificent rooms of this museum allows us to once again explore, and to experience the infinite and changing forms of artistic expression. Manolo Valdés is an internationally renowned Spanish artist who has made of figurative theme and the informal use of matter his powerful stylistic signature. He draws heavily from the Spanish artistic heritage, and in particular from Velázquez and Picasso, and from the informal heritage of his immediate predecessors. The acclaimed artist has chosen Museo di Palazzo Cipolla as the location for his comeback to the eternal city after a long absence that has lasted for twenty-five years. An extensive personal exhibition that Prof. Avv. Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, President of the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Internazionale which is promoting it, strongly supported. The exhibition has been put together by POEMA in collaboration with the Galleria Contini of Venice, together with the organizational support of Comediarting and Arthemisia.
The exhibition, curated by Gabriele Simongini, leads the viewer through Valdés’ creative path
Museo di Palazzo Cipolla, is one of the most authoritative and dynamic entities in the Italian and international cultural scenes. The museum is now reopening its doors to art as is once again a leading attraction with an opening theme on rebirth and the exhibition “Manolo Valdés. The shapes of time”
“Valdés’s work is an ongoing revision of the past, a mosaic made up of hundreds of tesserae. It is a representation stemming from having accumulated, and having made one’s own, the many other images that have firmly entered into our visual culture, and the reminiscences of all civilization and of all times: this is an attitude that has significantly broadened this artist’s ability to intercept the audience’s differing tastes. It makes him an all-round artist and allows him to perfectly interpret the times we live in and our society”. Prof. Avv. Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele
spanning from the early eighties to date. The artworks on display are close to seventy and they are on loan from the artist’s own collection as well as from major private collections, and they include paintings as well as sculptures in wood, marble, bronze, alabaster, brass, steel, iron, etc.
In Valdés’ figurative and playfully visionary search, artists from a somewhat distant past (from Velázquez to Rubens and Zurbarán, from El Greco to Ribera and all the way to Léger, Matisse, Lichtenstein, etc.) become counterparts with whom a daily contact should be maintained, to which homage should be paid, and through which the polyphonic space of his work may be expanded. It is as if the image captured by Valdés in the somewhat recent past had undergone a transformation by way of incorporating the changes of the art that followed, and especially so with informal art and Pop Art. It has done so to the extent of appearing before us in a new guise, with holes and lacerations on the material caused by this long journey through time.
As stated by Gabriele Simongini, «Valdés’s inexhaustible coming and going in the labyrinth of art history stems from Velázquez’s “Las Meninas”, an artwork of paramount importance for him, especially for that intertwine of reality and illusion, the act of playing with actual truth and appearances, which constitutes the heart of that masterpiece and of Spanish Baroque, but also of Valdés’ own work. Almost by magic the artist manages to convey a sculptural three-dimensionality to figures and characters previously “doomed” to the two-dimensionality of the canvas. He gives life to a continuous reversal of roles in the dimensional values attributed to painting with its overwhelming material nature, and in the pictorial ones often conveyed onto sculptures by way of the importance of color. Moreover in these works there is also a surprising “materialization” of drawings that acquire a dimensional space into artworks of considerable size yet they are capable of maintaining extreme visual and poetic lightness.»
MANOLO VALDÉS. LE FORME DEL TEMPO
(i.e. The shapes of time) Curated by Gabriele Simongini Rome, Museo di Palazzo Cipolla October 17, 2020 - January 17, 2021
“ART IS AN UNINTERRUPTED FLOW”
“Be they paintings or sculptures, Valdés’ works are imbued with overwhelming strength and vitality conveyed to them by the artist’s skillful workmanship of the most varied materials. The mastery is such that they are capable of communicating a nearly tactile sensation to the eye. What I specifically appreciate in his work is the attitude of drawing from the artistic repertoire of the past in a completely transparent and natural way, and reinterpreting it in a contemporary key. This once again confirms my belief that art is an uninterrupted flow, a continuous dialogue between great artists of the past and those of our days, and it therefore makes no sense to enclose art within the walls of periods that are rigidly marked and have no communication flow between them. Making room for events and exhibitions like this is ever more important when facing dramatic historical moments such as the one we are currently experiencing with the health emergency and consequent severe economic and social crisis. On my part, I am doing my best by responding to it through art and culture, in the hope of helping others and contributing to alleviating the painful existential condition in which our fellow citizens find themselves.». Prof. Avv. Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, President of Fondazione Terzo Pilastro Internazionale
Manolo Valdés. Rostro tricolor sobre fondo gris, 2006, oil on jute canvas, cm 172 x 151, Galleria d’arte Contini ©Manolo Valdés by SIAE 2020
Manolo Valdés. Dama a caballo en azul, 2017, oil painting on canvas, cm 190x190, Private Collection ©Manolo Valdés by SIAE 2020