We are grateful to Manolo Valdes for giving us this interview in March 2025:
1. What was your initial inspiration for the Library?
I had always intended to make a bas-relief. When I considered the human figure as a theme, I didn’t feel encouraged to do it, I wasn’t satisfied with the theme. On the other hand, I wanted to make a sculpture with a book, and I couldn’t find a way to do it either. I abandoned these projects and a few years went by. One day I walked into an antiquarian bookstore on 18th Street in New York and saw a shelf with some books arranged in a somewhat disorderly manner. That image struck me, and I told myself that that was the theme and that it was also a bas-relief. The theme of the bookstore has become a recurring theme for me.
2. What is the importance of books to the world, would you say?
Books are a medium that collects ideas and images. The themes are very varied: there are number books, philosophical books, novels, art books, etc. It is difficult to enter a place where you do not find them. They are artefacts that are much loved by many people. There are a variety of very different supports, but the paper book has a special appeal for me because of its textures, colors, scale… I think I will continue to have books as a theme for a while.
3. What one piece of advice would you give to young artists?
A professor at the School of Fine Arts told me that if I had something to say, I had the obligation to say it from the specificity of painting. On the other hand, Picasso said that if the muses come, they have to find you in the studio! In other words, a lot of vocation and a lot of work.
4. Who is your biggest inspiration?
I believe that painting is born from painting. My inspiration comes from the History of Art, from the paintings that others have painted. I don’t see myself putting an easel in front of a landscape or a still life like the impressionists, but I can put my easel in front of a landscape by Monet, an apple by Cezanne or the Infanta Margarita by Velazquez.
5. Martians have come to planet earth and you have been tasked with showing them one work of art that, for you, sums up humanity. It can be from any epoch. Which artwork do you choose?
Fortunately, the Martians have not arrived, and I don’t think they will arrive soon. In any case, humanity is defined by the first drawings from prehistory to the most recent paintings. I am very impressed by the Pyramids of Egypt, the Sistine Chapel, the paintings of Rembrandt, Velazquez, Matisse, Picasso…The other day I visited the British Museum, and I came out completely confused because I couldn’t decide which works interested me most in the amount of what was on offer. The next day I went to the National Gallery and the same thing happened to me.
6. What is your next project?
A: I am working on large-scale sculptures for outdoor exhibitions. I have finished one that has been installed in Miami and another for the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Other works will be shown in Monaco in the autumn.
Cultural Capital 