- The vote to choose the sculpture by Manolo Valdés to be kept in Valencia has an end date. Although the exhibition can be visited until mid-December, the deadline for Valencians and visitors to choose their favourite sculpture will end on 15 September. During the month and a half in which the exhibition has been on show, more than 25,000 Valencians and visitors have been voting for their favourite sculpture in this exhibition, promoted by the Hortensia Herrero Foundation, located at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències.
The high expectation made the vote get off to a flying start, and, far from stopping, the good weather and the holiday season encouraged it to maintain an excellent pace. In fact, the pace has remained more or less constant at around 3,500 votes a week, with some peaks of more than 4,300 ballots deposited in the ballot boxes at some points over the last seven weeks. However, the partial result of the vote so far will not be revealed, so that future votes are not conditioned by that. In any case, the final result and the winner will be announced a few days after closing the vote.
We must remember that the sculpture with the largest vote will be acquired by the Hortensia Herrero Foundation: “This is a temporary exhibition, but I would like that, in some way, some part of it could remain forever in Valencia. This is why I promise to buy the sculpture Valencians like most,” Hortensia Herrero, President and Patron of the Foundation promoting this exhibition, said on the day it was opened. The sculpture winning the vote shall be transferred to La Marina de València.
Visitors can still vote for their favourite sculpture at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències over the next month. There you will find flyers distributed in different locations that may be used as ballots to be deposited in any of the eight ballot boxes distributed in the premises.
Catalogue now available
Additionally, the official catalogue for the exhibition is now available. It was made after the exhibition opening in order to be able to reproduce Valdés’s works and translate the dialogue that has developed between his sculptures and Santiago Calatrava’s architecture. To do this, the Valencian photographer Vicent Bosch was working over several days in order to be able to capture the works with different shades of light, as well as with the night lighting of various colours. The catalogue, published in Spanish, Valencian and English, also contains an essay by the curator of the exhibition, Javier Molins, as well as a detailed biography of the artist Manolo Valdés. This book has been published by the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. The Monumental Sculpture Exhibition by Manolo Valdés is installed by the South Lake at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències of Valencia. This temporary exhibition, which can be seen until 10 December, includes the six sculptures that made up the exhibition in Paris, named: “La Mariposa” (“The Butterfly”), “Los Aretes” (“The Earrings”), “La Diadema” (“The Headband”), “Mariposas” (“Butterflies”), “La doble imagen” (“The double image”), and “La pamela” (“Pamela – Picture Hat”). Valdés created several large heads whose headdresses are made up of very different motifs, such as butterflies, geometric shapes, and a pamela or picture hat for this exhibition.
Valdés takes his inspiration from the things that surround him and puts those things into works of art that are inspired by the Spanish painting tradition and art history in general.