Art Madrid'23 – NOVELS AND STORIES, MANOLO PRIETO

The covers of Manolo Prieto (1940-1957) in the National Museum of Decorative Arts

 

 

This Spanish painter and sketcher of Cadiz origin (1912-1991) began his career in Madrid around 1930, here he began to work as a draftsman and designer in various advertising agencies. A pioneer in the field of graphic design, he is known primarily for designing the "bull" of the Osborne campaign. This emblem happened to be related to the collective imagination of the towns of Spain. Along with this symbol, has also worked for brands as representative as Iberia, Renfe, Danone, Frigo, Nestlé, Santa Lucía or Trasmediterránea.

 

 

The covers of Manolo Prieto (1940-1957) in the National Museum of Decorative Arts

 

 

This exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid pays homage to his entire career, with more than 200 works. Curated by Juan Aguilar and Emilio Gil, it offers a great number of activities that will be developed throughout this period. The influx is for public of all kinds, offering a great offer for the dissemination of the work of Prieto. "What tells Novels and Stories. The covers of Manolo Prieto (1940-1957) "brings the viewer to the artist's most unknown work.

 

 

The covers of Manolo Prieto (1940-1957) in the National Museum of Decorative Arts

 

 

The collection, belonging to the Dédalo publishing house, has 618 covers that comprise 17 years of pioneering compositional solutions for its time. Thanks to their contributions in graphic design many of the techniques with which they are counted today have been able to be edited and improved. The exhibition is not only composed of covers, but also includes sketches and proofs preserved by the Manolo Prieto Foundation.

 

 

 

The covers of Manolo Prieto (1940-1957) in the National Museum of Decorative Arts

 

 

His work is characterized by bringing great value to the field of research of the historical avant-garde rather than conforming to the advertising canons of his time. All a visionary who knew how to give his own voice to brands and make a gap in history. 

 

 

 

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.