Gaspare Manos

Gaspare Manos
Born	Gaspare Manos (1968-07-06) 6 July 1968 Bangkok, Thailand
Nationality	Italian
Education	London School of Economics
Known for	Painter, sculptor

Gaspare Manos (born 6 July 1968) is an Italian painter and sculptor. His work traces the boundary between abstraction and figurative art.

Education

Gaspare Manos was educated in Greece, Switzerland and Britain. He then studied at the London School of Economics where he gained a PhD in Economics.

Biography and life

1968 Gaspare Augusto Manos, Italian, is born in Bangkok, Thailand [06.07.1968] from a family of United Nations diplomats. Attends a French kindergarten speaks Thai, Italian and French. Visits various cities in Asia that leave a lasting impression on him. He retains strong links with Asia in general throughout his life and GQ Magazine Japan includes him in their "Men of the Year" [GQ Edition Edition - January 2013 - Japan], with other Italian artists such as the musician Jovanotti and the actor/film director Vittorio de Sica.

1972 lives in Nairobi, Kenya for 10 years. Attended an English school, learns English and Swahili. Is influenced by the African tradition and colors.

1982 Lives in Geneva, Switzerland 2 years. Visits the Foundation Gianadda, studies Klee and the Russian Avant-Garde. Begins painting with oil paint. Meets the painter Balthus.

1984 Lives in Athens, Greece. Visits many archaeological sites and museums, studies Greek mythology. Meet painters such as Fassianos, and visits the first exhibition of German Expressionist in the Athens Museum of Modern art.

1986 lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he prepares the entry exam for the university in London the following year. Pretends to be a medical student, attends courses in anatomy to better understand the shape of the human body for his art. Follows courses in architecture to better understand cities’ and their impact on social behaviour.

1987 moves to London at the University of London (LSE) awarded a bachelor degree (1990) then a Ph.D (1996).

His Ph.D. studies enables him to explore his interest in phenomenology and the urban world that often forms the subject of his art.

As revealed in his URBIS exhibition catalogue at the Museum Diocesano in Venice in 2008 [ ISBN 978-88-903081-1-6 ], he meets the philosopher Karl Popper who defines him as “the imaginifico of contemporary art.”

According to Prometeo published by Mondadori - Italy, pages -101-108 dedicated to Gaspare Manos - December 2013 [ISBN 978-0-394-16300-0. - 40124] he paints portraits of many personalities of the time: the musician Rostropovich in more than 40 works, members of the Rolling Stones, and others in the political, literary or artistic arena. He spends his next 18 years in London and traveling constantly in Europe, meeting artists such as Anselm Kiefer and Cy Twombly and many others attending exhibitions and museums regularly. [ from: James Thompson, in "A life in Art" 2010, pp. 38–45 ].

The Museum of Modern Fine Art in Minsk exhibits his work in 2013. From the catalogue exhibition [pages 74–75] [ISBN 978-88-903081-3-0] we learn that during the period 1987-2003, he met artists such as Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Lucian Freud and many other personalities of that period. They encouraged him to paint – especially Lucian Freud, whom he met regularly in London. Gaspare produces various portraits of these artists exhibited at the Museum of Modern Fine Art in Minsk in 2013.

Gaspare Manos has three children: Sofia Manos [1999]; Giulia Manos [2003]; Orso-Augusto Manos [2010].

The artist lives and works in London, Venice and Paris.

Career

The Italian artist Gaspare Manos was born 6 July 1968 in Bangkok / Thailand from a United Nations diplomat father and mother Elena Luxardo.

The work of Manos traces the boundary between abstract art and figurative art and draws on his experiences living in Asia (1968–73), Africa (1973–1982) and Europe (1983–present). Gaspare Manos is well known for his artistic interpretation of the urban world and his aim to define a new theory of art based on phenomenology.

His paintings, sculptures and installations show distinct periods and interconnected themes revolving around concepts of memory, space and place. These are traceable to key periods of his life as follows: (1968 -1972 Thailand); (1973 - 1982 Kenya); (1982 - 1984 Greece); (1987-1991 UK); (1991 -1992 Belgium); (1993 – current - UK - France – Italy)

The fragmentation and overlay of his contrasting socio-cultural life experiences explain the large body of work addressing different, yet complementary topics. These range from semi abstract oneiric interpretations of urban landscapes [exhibited at the URBIS museum retrospective during the Venice Architectural Biennale in 2008], to works of photographic precision [62 portraits exhibited at the Museum of Modern Fine Art in Minsk in 2013], counterbalanced by his Africa related works and fetish installation exhibited next to Cy Twombly sculptures and Miguel Barcelo’ ceramics 10 years earlier by Juris & Perl or at the International Sculpture and Installation Exhibition OPEN 13 in Venice in 2010 with artists such as Dennis Oppenheim.

Manos sculptures represent an important related body of work spanning over 25 years of his career. Often made using found materials, these are sometimes painted by the artist but generally left monochrome grey or bone colour. They make reference to objects Manos viewed and experienced in his many travels around the world. For the great part, these are more intimate in scale, and made of basic materials such as clay; sticks; used brushes from his studio; nails; bricks; ceramic remains and drift wood collected by the artist or his children. These sculptures, sometimes cast in bronze or left in their original form, remind us of reliquaries, or shamanistic and fetishlike objects of devotion he saw in Africa during his childhood. They are Proustian physical time capsules of intense concentrated recollections that are in stark contrast to some of the more ephemeral and cerebral depictions of his urban and natural landscape ‘memory paintings’.

If the Manos cerebral ‘urban paintings’ are the Ying of this artist’s output, his sculptures are the counterbalancing physical Yang. The artist’s Ph.D research at the London School of Economics in the 1990’s based on Phenomenology, and his life long interest in the concept of memory and relative nature of knowledge permeate the totality of his subject matters and career output. It provides the uniting thread to understand his works of art.

The Director of the Museum of Modern Art of Minsk, Natalia Sharanhovich has stated in the 62 portraits Manos catalogue of the Museum in 2013 ISBN 978-88-903081-3-0 that the career and painting method of Gaspare Manos shows a very strong pictorial unity with fundamental codes of trans-European culture and reveals the depth of his involvement with contemporary art.

Writing about the career of Gaspare Manos, The Director of the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona has stated in the 1998 Urbis Museum Catalogue that "this artist's concept of space draws him close to architecture and his capacity to dominate color endows him with the responsibility of being an heir to the pictorial tradition of his country Italy".

His paintings exhibited during the inauguration of the Museo della Civiltà Istriana Fiumana e Dalmata in Trieste in 2009. His works are included in private, corporate and public collections around the world as shown by the URBIS exhibition in Venice, Italy, (2008) with over 150 works reunited in a single retrospective of this painter. Also see: http://www.connessomagazine.it/trieste-inaugura-il-civico-museo-della-civiltà-istriana-fiumana-e-dalmata

Selected recent solo exhibitions

2013 - GASPARE MANOS: 62 portraits at the Museum of Modern Art, Minsk.

2013 – GASPARE MANOS: THE PURPLE SERIES - A project for the 40m2 ceiling of Palazzo Duodo during the Venice Biennale 2013. Juris and Perl Arte Moderna & Contemporanea Venice.

2011 - GASPARE MANOS, PIERRE SOULAGES, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT - Hubert Konrad GALLERY - 32 Avenue Matignon , Paris, France

2010 – VENICE FILM FESTIVAL: GASPARE MANOS & JOHN WOO film director SCULPTURE PRIZE OPEN 13 – Excelsior Venice.

2010 - GASPARE MANOS representing ITALY at OPEN 13 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURES AND INSTALLATIONS 2010 – VENICE - other artists of OPEN: Sandro Chia, Marc Quinn, Louise Bourgeois, Emilio Vedova, Richard Long, Cesar, Beverly Pepper, Keith Haring and Julian Schnabel.

2010 – GASPARE MANOS inaugural museum exhibition at the Civico Museo della Civiltà Istriana Fiumana e Dalmata - Trieste, Italy

2010 – Omaggio a Peggy Guggeheim group show with GASPARE MANOS. Studio Barozzi, Venice.

2009 - GASPARE MANOS: THE URBAN RHAPSODY EXHIBITION at the BOULAKIA GALLERY – PARIS / Catalogue Pierre Cornette de St Cyr - President Museum of Modern Art, Paris.

2009 - GASPARE MANOS: THE KIMONO PAINTINGS during the 2009 Venice Biennale - Juris and Perl Arte Moderna & Contemporanea.

2008 – GASPARE MANOS 150 paintings & drawings from the period 1982-2008 MUSEO DIOCESANO VENEZIA - patronage City of Venice during the Architectural Biennale 2008. Catalogue Rosa Maria Malet - Director of the Joan Miró Foundation - Barcelona & Alan Jones - New York.

2008 - GASPARE MANOS: CAVE CANEM - 55 works of art by Manos at MEL CONTEMPORARY - VIENNA

2007 - GASPARE MANOS/ MIGUEL BARCELO’ : AFRICA RELATED WORKS, Venice, Italy Juris and Perl.

2007 – ITHACA: 50 paintings by GASPARE MANOS- Palazzo della Provincia, Reggio Calabria - patronage City of Reggio Calabria and Master Card – Curator and catalogue : Josette di Bosco Balsa.

2006 – Three sculptures : ANTHONY CARO / CY TWOMBLY / GASPARE MANOS- Venice, Italy Juris and Perl.

2005 – GASPARE MANOS: 12 Venice paintings - Juris and Perl Arte Moderna & Contemporanea.

External links