Manolo Valdés: Reinas y Caballero, Bagno Alpemare, Forte dei Marmi
We can now experience the creative mind of Manolo Valdés by walking through the luxurious pine forest of Bagno Alpemare where the bronze sculptures rule.
Embraced by the breathtaking hold of the Apuan Alps, Versilia once again welcomes the summer season with an exhibition titled ‘‘Reinas y Caballero’’ displaying sculptures by Spanish Maestro Manolo Valdés.
Directed by Alberto Bartalini and thanks to the support of the Contini Art Gallery, these sculptures will be on view in Alpemare Beach Club, a property of Andrea Bocelli and his family. This project was possible also thanks to the patronage of the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi.
Manolo Valdes' sculptures endow some of Velázquez's celebrated paintings with a plastic body; from these masterpieces, Valdés carves out a kind of archetypal form, born out of cuts and imperfections, symbols of the passing of time. Visitors can discover, among the scents and lush foliage, the exuberance and visionary force of the ten "Reina Mariana." The cast bronze versions of the famous portrait of Maria Anna of Austria by Velázquez, are reinterpreted so often by Manolo Valdés that it has become an identifying symbol of his art. The majestic sculpture "El Caballero," also made of bronze, represents the emblem of the homage to Velázquez and the unquestionable principle that art's masterpieces are connected by a common thread, in a perpetual ongoing transmission of experience over time. The masterpieces of the past are thus analyzed and reinvented to fit contemporaneity through realism and a visionary language.
