Ref: Manolo Valdes - Ariadna 2
For prints please contact chris.smith@twentytrees.co.uk
This took my eye, the detail, the textures of the materials: bronze and steel. Its massiveness, and hardness, as wells the delicacy of the forms, the little parts. It was also very well positioned at the bottom of a avenue, glimpses of it caught from various places in the garden, drawing you.
The Sotheby's Selling Catalogue states:
The present work Ariadna I is among Manolo Valdés' most elegant compositions. The dynamic juxtaposition between the stoic, motionless profile and the steel crown which encircles the figure's head borders on the vertiginous, as if the serpentine headpiece may uncoil at any moment in a single uncontrollable movement. This iron diadem is the crucial link to the sculpture's identity as the mythical figure Ariadne. Numerous versions of the Greek myth recount that Ariadne had given the heroic Theseus a ball of thread with which he traced his way out of the Labyrinth, having slain the Minotaur imprisoned within. Theseus then fled with Ariadne to the island of Naxos where he later abandoned her, stricken. In this context the headpiece of the present work comes to represent Ariadne's thread both a symbol of freedom and the source of Ariadne's own psychological imprisonment.
Ariadne's featureless visage recalls the mannequins of Giorgio de Chirico, whose works abound with mythological themes. Moreover, the pointed face suggests the form of medieval helmets, adding a sense of androgyny to the work. Surface, texture and rhythm remain crucial in Valdés' sculptural vocabulary. The subtle contrast of iron against bronze, smooth planes over rough edges, volume beneath contour, imbues the present work with a sense of harmony and grace rarely achieved on such a grand scale.
Valdés is perhaps best known in the international arena for his creation of monumental public sculptures, which have been exhibited in some of the most dramatic urban landscapes. His 2002 installation of La Dama on Park Avenue in New York combined with the show held at Guggenheim Bilbao the same year established Valdés as an artist of international renown. More recently he has exhibited in Bryant Park, New York, San Francisco and Madrid, whose Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia hosted a major retrospective in 2006.Summer 2009 sees two further public exhibitions of Valdés' sculptures in the Jardins des Boulingrins, Monte Carlo and in Saint- Tropez.
The majority of the photographs in the Scultpture Gallery are of sculptures exhibited at Sotheby's annual selling exhibition at Chatsworth: Beyond Limits. Now in its fifth year it always includes an eclectic mix of old and new.
Some of these photographs are personal favourites of mine. A number are framed and hang at home. Where possible I've included information about the sculpture. For further information please contact me: chris.smith@twentytrees.co.uk.