Pera Museum organizes guided tour for Manolo Valdes exhibition

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A leading figure of contemporary art, Manolo Valdés is at Pera Museum.

Pera Museum is holding an exclusive guided tour for an ongoing exhibition of the works of Spanish pop art master Manolo Valdés on July 17.

A leading figure of contemporary art, Valdés is at Pera Museum until July 21 with a selection of works that extend from the 1980s to the present.

Following the dissolution of Equipo Crónica, a pioneering group of pop art in Spain, which he co-founded, Valdés continued his career solo in 1981. His works derive their strength from the masterpieces of the past, bear historic clues, colors, and textures, and make strong references to art history, carrying traces that extend from Velazquez to Zurbaran, and from Matisse to Picasso and Lichtenstein.

Stripping a painting from its original context and reinterpreting it through pop art, the artist primarily focuses on figures, objects, and series. Valdés’ work is featured in over 40 public collections, including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has permanent sculptures in many places, including Beijing, Madrid and Bilbao.

2006 marked the dissolution of Equipo Crónica, a quarter of a century in which Valdés has continued to work on his own. The exhibition will continue through July 21.

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Marlborough Gallery New York, includes selected works of Valdés, his paintings and sculptures from the 1980s to the present day. Renowned particularly for the diversity of his technique and media, Valdés’ large-scale works, and quests in form, have proven him to be one of the great masters of contemporary Spanish art.

Participants are asked to gather at the Pera Museum café ahead of the guided tour on July 17.