Spanish artist Manolo Valdes brings his whimsical sculptures to Dubai

Domesticity will demonstrate his mastery at manipulating material and form through craftsmanship

Manolo Valdes's works are both whimsical and funny. Pawan Singh / The National

Renowned Spanish artist Manolo Valdes, whose work ranges across painting, sculpture and multimedia, will show his small sculptures at his second solo exhibition at Opera Gallery in Atlantis the Royal, Dubai.

Running until October 31, the exhibition, titled Domesticity, is a comprehensive yet intimate showcase of the artist’s sculptural talent and his prowess at executing intricate details.

“I love exhibiting in Dubai because it is a unique place,” Valdes tells The National. “I always like works to go to different places. I really like to see the reactions that may occur in Dubai, Berlin or Beijing.”

From standing figures in exaggerated proportions to faceless busts with elaborate headdresses made up of a kaleidoscope butterflies, Valdes uses a range materials such as wood, resin, aluminum and bronze, to create whimsical, unexpected works.

They are also full of rich and cleverly layered references. Taking inspiration from myriad masters such as Spanish Baroque artist Diego Velazquez, romantic painter and printmaker Francisco Goya and, of course, the prolific Pablo Picasso, Valdes reinterprets and combines their motifs together into new contexts, creating a unique style that’s rooted in art history.

“What I do is comment on paintings from the history of art, I comment on them from the specificity of that painting,” he says.

For example, Valdes explains, he’d take the image of Queen Mariana from Velazquez’s famous 1653 portrait and reinterpret her into a different size from the original. He might only take a fragment of her, such as her silhouette and introduce various colours, textures or stylistic concepts from the pop art movement. Or from other artists he admires, such as the Catalonian painter Antoni Tapies, or the French painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet.

Valdes says he allows the process to take control of the outcome so that, for example, if drops of paint fall on the canvas where they weren’t supposed to, he doesn’t erase them because he learned from abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock that he can turn those “accidents into something beautiful".

“I give these examples to explain that, starting from a painting from the 17th century, I am making references to other ways of painting that have come after that century,” he says. “Naturally, the result is different from the original painting that Velazquez painted.”

While Valdes says he’s attempting to make art historical references current through his own style, his aim isn’t to direct the audience into any particular reading of his work.

“The people who look at the paintings are also very varied and make very different interpretations,” he says. “I really like it when a painting produces different readings because the viewer has the right and obligation to interpret it as they see fit. The different interpretations always enrich the work.”

Domesticity will present Valdes’s refined ideas in visual form, pieces that demonstrate his mastery at manipulating material and form through craftsmanship – where light, colour and subject matter are recontextualised in intriguing ways. From initial idea to his execution, it’s challenging to understand how Valdes’s sculptures in the exhibition are able to pack so much detail and thought into one single, modestly sized piece without overwhelming the viewer.

He says he’s not entirely sure how ideas enter his head, but that the process of developing them is organic.

“When I’m visiting the Metropolitan Museum in New York, I see some Greek perfume bottles that catch my attention, then when I leave I find perfumes in a shop window and almost automatically Warhol's painting of Chanel number 5 appears to me,” he says.

“That accumulation leads me to consider making a painting with that theme. I go to the studio and start drawing. I review all the images that art history has offered me and have caught my attention. Then I choose whether to make a sculpture or a painting, then I choose the materials and start the work.”

Valdes’s work, even as concepts, is a constant dialogue between past and present, between historical figures and everyday subjects. It’s a way for Valdes to explore, understand and contextualise history and how throughout the timeline of humanity, there has always been an interest and concern with mark making.

“It is important to look at the past to understand the present,” Valdes says. “I am interested in history from the moment man leaves his mark in the pre-historic caves.”

Manolo Valdes's solo exhibition Domesticity is running until October 31 at Opera Gallery at Atlantis The Royal