Cesar Manrique
29th October 2014
The integration of architecture and art in harmony, embedded in a love of his home and country is a synthesis of the 'Manrique' experience.
http://patternity.org/news/patterniquote-cesar-manrique-the-explorer/
http://www.cesarmanrique.com/juguetes_i.htm
In an attempt to quantify a definitive reason and perhaps a direction behind my artistic outpourings (ugh) and to demystify the Aristotelian quote 'misfortune shows those who are not friends', I abandoned my university chums and spent a little time soaking up creative 'atmos' in the orbit of that late visionary artist, architect and aesthete Cesar Manrique on the island of Lanzarote.
A strange landscape of extremes; fecund yet barren - where the tattoo rubs shoulders with the Tintoretto, Manrique's eclectic range of work from the silkscreen print to the sculpture, takes its inspiration directly from his Spanish roots. He uses the volcanic heat, vibrant colours and unusual textures found on this rugged island as the thread running through all the work he ever produced. This obvious passion for and direct link with his country and his life; this sense of 'who you are' through a combination of the tactile and the visual, I found overwhelmingly inspirational.
Manriques' collection of art work is diverse and he uses his home as a gallery space as if as an 'aide memoir' showcasing his own work and taking inspiration from that of his friends; images of abstracted beauty ranging from Francisco Farreras to Gerardo Rueda, Jean Miro to Pablo Picasso.
The backdrop to this as one meanders through the subterranean labyrinth that makes up his cool underground home, is the sound of trickling water and the sudden burst of cerelean and white as the obsidian lava bursts open to reveal a vast canvas of sky.
http://www.fcmanrique.org/recursos/publicacion/cesarmanrique1950-57.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r49JUDF07O8
The realisation for me was that creativity is life affirming and paradoxically transient yet constant. The textural content of the paintings and the colours in the landscape affected me like the metallic tang of ozone; sharp and tangible. The tactile abstraction of nature combined with mouthwatering colour is something I aspire to create with print - juicy silkscreen, fine lithography or crumbling, shiny enamels.
However small the beginnings, whatever direction you take, there is no 'wrong', there is acceptance and unusually large amounts of genitalia shaped cacti.
http://www.cesarmanrique.com/juguetes_i.htm
In an attempt to quantify a definitive reason and perhaps a direction behind my artistic outpourings (ugh) and to demystify the Aristotelian quote 'misfortune shows those who are not friends', I abandoned my university chums and spent a little time soaking up creative 'atmos' in the orbit of that late visionary artist, architect and aesthete Cesar Manrique on the island of Lanzarote.
A strange landscape of extremes; fecund yet barren - where the tattoo rubs shoulders with the Tintoretto, Manrique's eclectic range of work from the silkscreen print to the sculpture, takes its inspiration directly from his Spanish roots. He uses the volcanic heat, vibrant colours and unusual textures found on this rugged island as the thread running through all the work he ever produced. This obvious passion for and direct link with his country and his life; this sense of 'who you are' through a combination of the tactile and the visual, I found overwhelmingly inspirational.
Manriques' collection of art work is diverse and he uses his home as a gallery space as if as an 'aide memoir' showcasing his own work and taking inspiration from that of his friends; images of abstracted beauty ranging from Francisco Farreras to Gerardo Rueda, Jean Miro to Pablo Picasso. The backdrop to this as one meanders through the subterranean labyrinth that makes up his cool underground home, is the sound of trickling water and the sudden burst of cerelean and white as the obsidian lava bursts open to reveal a vast canvas of sky.
http://www.fcmanrique.org/recursos/publicacion/cesarmanrique1950-57.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r49JUDF07O8
The realisation for me was that creativity is life affirming and paradoxically transient yet constant. The textural content of the paintings and the colours in the landscape affected me like the metallic tang of ozone; sharp and tangible. The tactile abstraction of nature combined with mouthwatering colour is something I aspire to create with print - juicy silkscreen, fine lithography or crumbling, shiny enamels.
However small the beginnings, whatever direction you take, there is no 'wrong', there is acceptance and unusually large amounts of genitalia shaped cacti. 
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