Manolo Valdés, The Library

Opera Gallery London

13 February - 20 March 2025

Opera Gallery is pleased to present 'The Library', a solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by pioneering Spanish artist Manolo Valdés. Renowned for his paintings, sculptures and multimedia works that reference and re-contextualise important moments from the art historical canon through a lens that ranges from reverential to humorous and ironic. Comprised of paintings and new mixed media sculptures, ‘The Library’ explores Valdés’ oeuvre as a library that combines classical references with modern aesthetics.

Central to the exhibition are monumental works from Valdés ongoing Librería series. These works include large-scale carved wood reproductions of shelves replete with books, serving as both a visual symbol for intellectual exploration and an apt analogy for memory through its pieced together, embedded fragments. Using a crowded bookshelf as a central motif, Valdés makes a veiled reference to the pursuit of knowledge and exploration of cultural heritage that appears in his own practice.

In the Librería series, Valdés’ continues to interrogate his own research and art-making process while exploring the changing nature of transferred generational knowledge and the materiality of books and printed matter within the digital age. Each nameless book in the series represents a bridge between the past and future of painting and sculpture, and the exchange of ideas along the way. Notably, the series can also be seen as a tribute to the still life genre through the mechanics of abstraction. Within this context, the Librería sculptures come to represent the canon of art as an ever-expanding resource for the creation and interpretation of culture.

'The Library' highlights Valdés unique ability to seamlessly traverse visually between the past and present. The art historical motifs that serve as catalysts for Valdés’ in turn, become reanimated, underscoring their perennial relevance.