César Manrique
Arrecife (1919) – Tahíche (1992)
After completing his studies at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid (where he lived between 1945 and 1964), he moved to New York, where he exhibited individually three times at the Catherine Viviano Gallery. Direct knowledge of American abstract expressionism, pop art, new sculpture and kinetic art provided him with a visual culture essential to his subsequent creative trajectory.
In the mid-sixties, coinciding with the transfer of his residence to Lanzarote, César Manrique promoted a series of artistic projects of a spatial and landscape nature on the island, where he captured his artistic and ethical thinking. They were a set of actions and interventions aimed at enhancing the landscape and natural attractions of the island, which will shape its new face and its international projection.
He developed a new aesthetic practice, which he called art-nature/nature-art. His landscape works are a unique demostration of this way of thinking, as well as great example of public art in Spain: Jameos del Agua, Mirador del Río, Cactus Garden, Timanfaya, etc. Works of this nature were also carried out by Manrique on other islands and outside the Canary Islands, but always maintaining his basic characteristic features: respectful dialogue with the natural environment and the connection between the architectural values of the local tradition with modern conceptions.
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