Related News
Spanish envoy’s painting blends East with West
Print Edition
MANUEL Valencia has multiple identities. He is a diplomat, the Spanish ambassador to China; he is an artist with a distinct style that stems from the West and is nurtured by the East; he is also a writer of three books. He is a Westerner, and also a fan of oriental culture.
This week Manuel Valencia the artist is holding his ninth solo exhibition, named “Sea Poems,” in Shanghai.
“A European stroll through Eastern art,” is an expression Valencia often uses to describe his drawings. His works have the free and expressive gestures and bold outlines of Western art, as well as a nude simplicity of oriental art.
With frequent visits to China and Japan, Valencia formed a fascination and his own understanding of Asian art, and that explains why he adopts many oriental elements in his artwork. Two of his solo exhibitions are named in Japanese—“Haiku (2007)” and “Gaijin (2004),” referring to “a form of Japanese short poem” and “foreigner.” He also mingles calligraphic elements into his drawings, possibly influenced by traditional Japanese and Chinese art where combining painting, calligraphy and poetry is a common practice. In some of his works in grey, black and white, viewers can easily perceive simplicity and elegance that resembles Chinese ink wash paintings.
Valencia is also practicing Asian philosophy during his art creation. When drawing his “Blind Flowers” series, he observed flowers and leaves closely and let the gaze lead him to meditation on the human condition. “Oriental art and its philosophy have done that for centuries; Western not,” wrote Valencia in 2008.
However, though he absorbs a lot from classical oriental art, Valencia’s art is not “traditional.” Successfully he combines Western and Oriental art in a modern and contemporary way. His abstract expression and experiments of painting support and media in particular, labels him a contemporary artist.
Using various papers as support is one of Valencia’s explorations in new forms of art expression. He likes to frequent the old markets in Beijing Liulichang to carefully choose papers—often delicate traditional Xuan handmade rice papers — with different textures, thickness and types of cellulose to use as one of the essential parts of his drawings.
For drawing media, he develops his personal formula of ink. Graphite and acrylics are also used. His “Letter” and “Islados” series are good examples of his innovation in using media and support. Mixed techniques are employed to show lines and veins of different shades, qualities and densities.
Valencia’s love for nature is obvious. Nature is featured in his solo exhibitions such as Botanical Poems (2009), Blind Flowers (2008) and Poemas Naturales (2010). He has long studied the relations between nature and human nature. By looking into the mysteries of nature, via keen observation, he finds out that everything is connected. He regards botany as his own mirror.
Since he was appointed the Spanish ambassador to China in 2013, the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, Valencia has laid great emphasis on promoting cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries. He is active in many cultural activities and now is exhibiting his own works.
Born in 1954, Valencia began his art education in 1988 in the Netherlands, learning from renowned artists including Bob Bonis and Pien Hazemburg. He has held eight solo exhibitions in Spain, Cuba, Serbia and China.
The exhibition is open in Mao Space Jing’an Kerry Center through December 14.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
