Manolo Valdes in New York

From May 2010 to January 2011 the Marlborough Gallery displayed a set of sixteen monumental sculptures by Manolo Valdés on the section that goes from 166th street in Broadway to Columbus Circle.These sculptures acted as beacons of the singular iconography of the Valencian artist. They were all made in New York, the city where he lived for more than twenty years. This is the first time a Spanish creative artist has taken up such a vast space in the complex urban area of Manhattan. During the nine months that the works were shown, they became referents integrated into the changing landscape where each one of them was carefully exhibited: on sidewalks and boulevards, in parks and subway entrances...Around them, the routine of the neighborhoods followed its course, from the unhurried peace of the Dominican Harlem to the acceleration of the Lincoln Center. The result was an experience which confirms that art can become an inseparable part of the pulse of life.