Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Manuela Manes: Biography of the Artist

Manuela Manes is an Italian artist born near Pordenone, in North-East Italy. She lives and works in Milan.

After graduating in Law and completing a Master in Public Relations, she became a publicist and a journalist. In addition to painting she is working in the communication sector.

During her artistic career she has attended several oil painting and creative composition courses working in the ateliers of established artists.

Hence, Manuela Manes has been able to develop a unique and very personal style with her subjectivity as the fundament of each work. Her approach and her experimental work in the field of art express an inner path that investigates and explores every nuance of the artist's soul.

All her production is charged with the memory of the places and encounters she has experienced, featuring a continuous evolution.

Exhibitions and Themes

Manuela Manes has exhibited her works in many collective and personal exhibitions in Milan and beyond.

Among these, "LIBEROMARE" at Deodato Arte contemporary art gallery. Furthermore, Fantasia con radici nel Mediterraneo (Fantasy with Mediterranean Roots)" of 2011 and "Pelagos, immagini marine per la memoria (Pelagos, images of the sea for the memory)" of 2012, featuring in double solo shows of Manuela Manes and the artist Simone Perotti, both dedicated to the theme of the Mediterranean Sea as a common sea, place of connections, but also differences.

In May 2016 she presented, again at the Deodato Arte gallery, the exhibition "Impronte", then exhibited in October of the same year also at the Legart gallery in Novara, while in 2020 she was again a protagonist at Deodato Arte gallery for the solo show "Manuela Manes. Storie di Incantesimi e Connessioni (Manuela Manes. Stories of Magic Spells and Connections)".

Manuela Manes: Works and Style

Most of the artworks by Manuela Manes are abstract and conceptual paintings in which the artist expresses herself and her feelings.

Manuela Manes' style is unique and very particular. She mainly works on canvas, often in large size, on which she experiments with new techniques and materials by putting together oil, acrylic, sand, paper, enamels, resins, concrete, plaster, jute and other recycled materials.

The use of different materials makes his works deeply material and textured: in this way she overcomes the limits imposed by the canvas.

The composition of shapes and lines gives rhythm and balance to the artworks, while the colour charges them with energy and becomes the medium through which the artist expresses emotions and tells stories.

Her artistic career is influenced by the legacy of the great masters: from the expressionist approach of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko to the tactile vigour of the works by Alberto Burri, from the chromatic harmony of the Impressionists to the inimitable genius of Picasso, to the limitless aesthetic of Mirò.

Manuela Manes also works on sculptures, using recycled material often found on beaches.

All the works by Manuela Manes are unique pieces signed in original by the artist.

The Exhibition of Manuela Manes “Storie di Incantesimi e Connessioni”

In March 2020 Deodato Arte gallery hosts Manuela Manes' latest solo show  "Manuela Manes. Storie di Incantesimi e Connessioni (Stories of Magic Spells and Connections)".

In this exhibition the artist focused on relationships and connections, momentarily putting aside the introspective character of the previous series. Manuela Manes thus seeks the dialogue with the public, to whom she wants to ask questions, asking the viewer to find their answers.

The works are materially dense and the colours are strong, seeking harmony through chromatic contrasts. The tone, characterized by chiaroscuro, is positive, lively and at times light.

For the occasion the artist presented four new series, each one characterized by a time and a musical style.

Ouverture - Contaminazioni is the first section, composed of works that spring from inspiration, each dedicated to a great master of art.

Intermezzo pop - Sfocature (4 elementi) is the second series in which Manuela Manes represents the four elements trying to relate her emotions to those of the viewer.

The third series, Jam session - Contrasti, tells the encounters between opposites by juxtaposing bright and strong colours.

Finally Rock ballad - FOURseasons, ONElove, fourth section, represents the four seasons questioning the viewer about the concept of love and what it means for him.

Each of them is available in the selection of works by Manuela Manes in Deodato Arte gallery.

The Series: "Scomposizioni Sensoriali".

Scomposizioni Sensoriali (Sensorial Breakdown) is the name of a series of works by Manuela Manes exhibited at the exhibition "Pelagos", held at the Deodato Arte gallery in 2012 and dedicated to the theme of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to escape poverty and war.

In this series of works the artist tries to give a colour and a shape to feelings. In a game of sensory decompositions, she manages to communicate pure impressions, speaking directly with the emotional sphere of the viewer, without the mediation of the intellect.

Thus she approaches music and her canvases become real melodies.

The Series: "Suggestioni Mediterranee".

The love for the sea and in particular for the beauty of the Mediterranean is a recurring theme in Manuela Manes' art.

In the series Suggestioni Mediterranee (Mediterranean Suggestions) the artist creates splendid abstract canvases, each of which takes the name from one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Using lines, shapes and colours she gives life to material surfaces that translate existing places into an abstract language.