Art Madrid'24 – Víctor Manzanal
Víctor Manzanal
Pamplona, 1989
Víctor Manzanal’s work revolves around the concept of human nature and its boundaries with the animal, vegetal, or inanimate. Through sculpture, with a special focus on materiality and the organic, he explores transformative processes that give rise to new dimensions in subjects, questioning their essence and individuality.
Manzanal is drawn to elements like fossilization, mummification, the petrified figures of Pompeii, and the nuclear imprints of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—processes where the living acquires a new, permanent nature. Conversely, he is also fascinated by elements of digital visual culture, from which he extracts metaphors to bring into the physical world. Through symbolism, he disrupts the usual visual order to approach the mystery of life, its disappearance, and the search for meaning it inspires—driven by the fear of insignificance and oblivion.
In his latest works, Manzanal explores a personal sense of duality projected outward, focusing on the limits of identity and specific sculptural challenges such as form and space. Without intending to provide a precise meaning, his physical representations of repetition evoke unsettling aspects linked to the collective imagination, challenging the viewer in unexpected ways.