The 'La Verdad De La Materia' exhibition featuring the works of Marusela Granell and Manu Bañó is a testament to the power of minimal gestures applied to raw materials.
Cutting, folding, gluing, and ripping are simple actions that, when applied to raw materials, can create beautiful works of art. This is precisely what connects the works of Marusela Granell and Manu Bañó, two artists who explore different processes involving manipulation in a common search for beauty. The two artists may have different approaches to art, but they are united in their common search for beauty.
Manu Bañó takes materials of industrial origin in standard format and turns them into sculptural and functional objects through simple mechanical gestures. He relies on his intuition rather than research or references to create his designs. His work has been exhibited in design fairs such as Design Miami/Basel, Salone Satellite in Milan, and Maison&Objet in Paris.
Marusela Granell, on the other hand, deconstructs painting by emphasizing the elements of which it is composed. She uses worn-out tubes of oil paint and pieces of paper as both artwork and model in her process of creation and destruction. Granell is a Doctor in "Fine Arts" and a versatile artist who experiments with the language of art. She has been a teacher of Artistic Expression at Cardenal Herrera University since 1988 and has received a prize from the Ministry of Culture for promoting Spanish contemporary art.
The two artists' works are brought together in an exhibition that leans towards beauty because, without the superfluous in the world, there would be no poetry. The exhibition evokes the old romantic view of the landscape that put distance between the spectator and nature. Looking at nature today means looking at ourselves, and that is precisely what Granell's works aim to do.
The exhibition showcases the artists' different approaches to art and how they both manipulate materials to create beauty. Bañó's designs are functional yet artistic, while Granell's deconstruction of painting brings out the beauty in the materials themselves.
Marusela Granell Campderá is a Doctor in "Fine Arts" and a versatile artist who experiments with the language of art. She has been a teacher of Artistic Expression at Cardenal Herrera University since 1988 and has received a prize from the Ministry of Culture for promoting Spanish contemporary art.
Manu Bañó was born in Valencia, Spain in 1990. After studying industrial design at UCH CEU University in Valencia and a master's degree in furniture and lighting, he joined Magnus Long Studio in London and collaborated in projects for Central Saint Martins University. He moved to Mexico City in 2013, where he currently lives and works. His work has been exhibited in design fairs such as Design Miami/Basel, Salone Satellite in Milan, and Maison&Objet in Paris. Together with Héctor Esrawe and Age Salajoe, he co-founded EWE Studio in 2017.
