Manolo Valdés (1942, Valencia, Spain) has developed a distinctive style that explores history without taking away from the original subject. After attending the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos De Valencia, Valdés began his career as one of the founding members of Equipo Cronica in the 1960’s. Equipo Cronica was frequently associated with the artists who contested Franco’s regime, questioning its official culture as repressive. Quoting figures from well-known works of art by old masters Velázquez, Rembrandt, Fra Angelico and 20th century masters such as Matisse, Picasso, and Lichtenstein. Valdés reimagines these familiar works by taking them out of their original context. In both his paintings and sculptures Valdés inflates the figures size, minimizing detail and abstracting form, while incorporating unusual materials and roughly applied paint.