Manolo Valdés is one of few artists today who has successfully mastered the disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking. In each medium he shows himself to be technically skilled, highly original, and unceasingly provocative. Born in Valencia, Spain in 1942, he began his training as a painter at the age of 15 when he entered the Fine Arts Academy of San Carlos, Valencia. In 1964 Valdés, Rafael Solbes, and Joan Toledo collaborated to form Equipo Crónica, an artistic team that utilized Pop Art to question the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco and the history of art itself. After the group dissolved in 1981, Valdés reinvented himself. He drew heavily upon Spanish artistic heritage, particularly the work of Velázquez and the informalismo of his immediate predecessors Manolo Millares, Antonio Saura, and Antoni Tàpies. Today Valdés lives and works in New York and Madrid.

The works of Manolo Valdés can be seen in numerous public and private collections including: Fonds National d'Arts Plastiques, Paris, France; Fundación Caja de Pensiones, Barcelona, Spain; Hispanic Society, New York, New York; Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain; Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany; Kunstmuseum, Berlin, Germany; Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany; Menil Foundation, Houston, Texas; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium.

To view the press release for the previous exhibition, click here.