Manolo Valdés. The Shapes of Time
Comediarting 2020
English and Italian translations of the catalogue and exhibition panels by Scriptum
The great Spanish artist Valdés has made a comeback after 25 years away, bestowing us with 70 tremendous works at Museo di Palazzo Cipolla this Autumn/Winter.
Till January 10th, Manolo Valdés’ epic collections are available to see at the Palazzo Cipolla museum in the city centre. A range of paintings made up of mirror shards, coarse fabrics or acrylic paints and various sculptures formed from wood, marble, bronze, alabaster, steel and iron await you at this vibrant and captivating display.
Valdés’ work is unapologetic, eclectic and bold. He focuses on physicality, as a response to the digital age and the ‘world’s pervasive dematerialization’. Valdés does not claim to be a perfectionist and takes pride in his lively modes of art history recreation or object defamiliarisation. Additionally, what better way for his biographical story and masterpieces to be exhibited in Rome, the eternal, ancient city? As time itself is different in Rome; modern life cohabits with the ever-present historical. For Valdés, ‘an artist who juggles disintegrated linear time into hybrid works that are at once new and ancient,’ his themes compliment Roma, effortlessly.