Manolo Valdés Butterflies

We absolutely love the sculptures by Manolo Valdés.  The Butterflies sculpture by Manolo Valdés. Butterflies is part of the Beyond Limits sculpture sale organized by Sotheby's at Chatsworth in the UK (the exhibition is about to close on October 31st 2010 so if you have a couple of millions to invest, this is your chance). Note that we use the worth "invest" since we are pretty sure that in the 21st century the sculptures by Manolo Valdés will certainly command the same prices as the sculptures by Henry Moore. The present work by Manolo Valdés is Butterflies which he conceived in 2010 and which is a unique piece. It is an impressive and large sculpture, perhaps not suitable for the average apartment in London or NYC: it measures an astonishing 4.6 by 9.5 x 5 meters. It was partly inspired by a Henri Matisse painting; the elegant countenance, distinguished only by the brow and line of the nose, bears the influence of the Fauve's early portraits such as Woman with a Hat.


Manolo Valdés "Butterflies" detail

But Butterflies was also the fruit of happenstance, as Manolo Valdés has explained: 'one day, while strolling in Central Park, I saw a group of butterflies that had landed on top of a sculpture and the idea of the headpiece was born.'


Manolo Valdés "Butterflies"

The beguiling headdress imbues the sculpture with a sense of movement and weightlessness, its solid forms dissipating into the surrounding space. At once monumental and accessible, patent yet enigmatic.  Butterflies, cast in shimmering aluminium, is characterised by a unique approach to volume and materiality that has become the defining quality of Manolo Valdés' large-scale sculptures and accounts entirely for their powerful, mesmerising presence.


Manolo Valdés "Butterflies"