The Artistic Career of Manolo Quejido

Born in Seville, Spain, in 1946, Manolo Quejido began his formal engagement with the canvas after moving to Madrid in 1964. As a painter and engraver, his presence in the Spanish art scene emerged through a restless curiosity that sought to redefine the boundaries of the pictorial plane. His early years were marked by a deep immersion in the avant-garde languages of the time, moving through various experimental phases that would eventually shape his unique visual language.

The trajectory of his work is defined by a refusal to remain static. He moved from the rigorous investigations of geometric experimentation and concrete poetry toward a more exuberant, gestural approach. This evolution brought a sense of vital energy to his compositions, characterized by a festive and lively brushstroke. His paintings often reject the heavy existentialism of previous movements, opting instead for a sense of play and a colorful, spirited execution that engages the viewer through its sheer physical presence.

Throughout his career, Quejido has maintained a dialogue between the act of painting and the act of thinking. His work does not merely represent a subject; it constructs a specific space that invites a different way of seeing. This persistent search for a personal alphabet of form and color has allowed him to navigate between diverse influences, resulting in a body of work that remains deeply rooted in the physical reality of the medium while constantly questioning its social and historical function.

Early Experimentalism and Geometric Exploration

After moving to Madrid in 1964, Quejido entered a decade defined by intense formal inquiry. His early practice was deeply intertwined with the political tensions of the Spanish art scene during the 1970s, where artistic experimentation often mirrored the social commitments of the era. During this period, he was associated with the group known as "Los esquizos de Madrid," a collective that contributed to the emergence of the Nueva Figuración madrileña. His presence in the Madrid scene was further solidified through his exhibitions at the Buades gallery, where he engaged with the prevailing avant-garde languages of the time.

This era of his career was marked by a restless search for new visual systems. He moved beyond traditional representation to explore the intersections of geometry and language, showing a particular interest in concrete poetry. His investigations into the mechanics of form led him to the Seminario de Generación Automática de Formas Plásticas at the Centro de Cálculo of the Universidad de Madrid. Here, the artist moved toward a more structured, almost mathematical approach to composition, testing how shapes and sequences could function as a visual syntax. This period of rigorous, systematic exploration provided the essential foundation for the more expressive shifts that would follow.

Evolution Toward Pop Art and Neo-Expressionism

As his practice matured, Quejido’s work drifted away from earlier geometric experiments, finding a new equilibrium between the aesthetics of Pop Art and the energy of Neo-expressionism. This shift was marked by a departure from the sobriety of his previous investigations toward a more exuberant and colorful approach. During the 1980s, his canvases became sites of intense study, where he navigated the tension between established traditions and the radical impulses of the avant-garde. His palette grew more assertive, reflecting a vital and playful spirit that sought to counter the existential gravity of previous movements.

This period saw him absorbing the visual language of American Pop, drawing influence from the works of Andy Warhol, Ronald Kitaj, and David Hockney. Rather than merely imitating these styles, he used their sensibilities to explore the intersection of the everyday and the pictorial. His brushwork became more gestural, characterized by a certain lightness and a sense of festive spontaneity. This was not a retreat into mere decoration, but a deliberate engagement with the way color and form could communicate a sense of life and irony.

By the early 1990s, his focus turned toward the structural limits of the medium itself. In works such as Tabiques, he began to investigate the two-dimensionality of the painting, questioning how the surface of the canvas could both define and dissolve space. This investigation into the physical and conceptual boundaries of the picture plane marked a sophisticated evolution in his career, moving from the exuberant color of the previous decade toward a more rigorous analysis of the act of seeing.

Key Works and Artistic Series

The trajectory of Manolo Quejido is marked by a restless movement between structured sequences and spontaneous figuration. Between 1969 and 1974, his practice was defined by the series Deliriums, Siluetas y Secuencias, a period of black-and-white reductions that explored the boundaries of his visual language. This phase of experimentation eventually gave way to a more expansive approach to the medium. From 1974 to 1978, he produced El taco, a substantial collection of over 400 works executed on card, which allowed him to explore a vast array of subjects and styles through a repetitive, almost rhythmic process.

As his work moved toward more recognizable imagery, certain motifs became central to his visual vocabulary. The typewriter, for instance, emerged as a recurring iconographic element, a subject he revisited and worked upon transversally from 1974 until 1996. This persistence in returning to specific objects highlights a preoccupation with the intersection of everyday items and the act of representation. His later output also includes significant individual pieces, such as El grande, which dates to about 1981.

• Deliriums, Siluetas y Secuencias (1969–1974)
• El taco (1974–1978)
• El grande (about 1981)

Technique and Artistic Philosophy

For Quejido, the act of painting is fundamentally an act of inquiry. He approaches the canvas not as a mirror to reflect reality, but as a means to construct a "space-other"—a distinct realm that exists beyond mere representation. This philosophical stance shifts the focus from the imitation of the external world to the creation of an autonomous pictorial space. His work seeks to provoke a sense of feeling rather than a simple intellectual observation, treating the surface as a site for active investigation.

His technical evolution is marked by a rigorous, almost linguistic approach to color and medium. In his earlier years, he utilized black-and-white reductions and worked with acrylic on cardboard to explore formal boundaries. This discipline eventually led to a period of extreme chromatic restraint; he once reduced his entire palette to just six colors, a system he likened to five vowels paired with the color yellow acting as the sole consonant. This methodical reduction allowed him to treat color as an alphabet, a set of building blocks used to construct complex visual thoughts.

This intersection of rigorous structure and spontaneous gesture defines his practice. He moves between the precision of geometric experimentation and a more gestural, energetic application of paint. By treating the medium as a system of signs, he navigates the tension between the logic of the image and the physical reality of the paint itself.

Where to See His Works Today

The physical presence of Manolo Quejido’s output is distributed across several significant institutions, reflecting a career that moved from experimental beginnings to established recognition. In Madrid, his work is held within the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. His pieces are also part of the collection at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, further anchoring his presence in the Spanish capital. These holdings offer a way to encounter the formal investigations he pursued throughout his development.

Beyond the central institutions of Madrid, his art has traveled to diverse locations. In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, his works are included in the collection of the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno. His reach extends further across the Atlantic to Mexico, where his pieces are part of the collection at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan in Jalisco. This international presence highlights the reach of his visual language beyond the borders of Spain.