Manuel Calvo
- (Palma, 1974)
Degree in Engraving from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Madrid and in Artistic Ceramics from the ESD in Palma de Mallorca. Selected in the program Noves Presències 2009 with the individual exhibition Anopheles of sculpture and drawing in the gallery Maneu. With these works he exhibits in the Consell de Mallorca, C.C. Sa Taronja in Andratx, Palmyra Sculpture Centre and in the XIX Certamen de dibujo Gregorio Prieto in Madrid. Since 2007 he collaborates as a musician for performances and video art and between 2008 and 2012 he co-directs the multidisciplinary art space Ca´n Danús in Palma de Mallorca. He currently lives and works in London where he self-publishes comic fanzines and does illustration and ceramics.
"My artistic practice includes drawing, sculpture, ceramics, illustration and comics, engraving and music. I explore the possibilities of different materials and techniques that allow spontaneous expression either through assembled clay forms, the fluidity of inks and watercolours on paper or the immediacy of music. Much of my graphic work is influenced by the tradition of chiaroscuro, formal synthesis, primitivism, expressionism and the suggestion of oriental art to capture the essence of forms along with the valuation of imperfection and shadow. I develop concepts and themes around the human condition, the symbolism of images, organic forms, science fiction.... In my first solo exhibition Anopheles I reflected on the concept of transmission exploring the creative possibilities of size and scale as a determining factor in the conception of the pieces".