The Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga celebrates the figure of Manuel Franquelo, a Malaga-born artist and inventor, with the solo exhibition 'The Language of Things'. The exhibition, open until October 12th at the Espacio ArteSonado of the Palacio de Villalón, marks the creator's return to his hometown, Malaga, which he left at the age of 18 to study Telecommunications Engineering and Fine Arts.
The exhibition includes the eponymous print portfolio that earned him the National Printmaking Award in 1998. According to Lourdes Moreno, the gallery's artistic director, Franquelo captured the essence of everyday objects, such as 'the specks of dust resting on his shelf and, therefore, the passage of time,' giving simple elements an 'almost existential dimension'.
“"He gave a voice to objects so they could speak for themselves."
Elena Giner, the artist's widow, and his son Manuel, highlighted Franquelo's dedication to research before creation, a process he undertook before the era of artificial intelligence, resorting to specialized foreign magazines. They also emphasized his perfectionism, exemplified by the creation of his own airbrush, and his humility, believing his work could be done by anyone with sufficient interest.
Both family members stressed the importance of this first exhibition in Malaga, as Franquelo felt the city 'did not love him' due to the lack of a space to exhibit his work. Lourdes Moreno recalled how Franquelo 'crossed a boundary' between human creativity and that of machines, anticipating current debates.
As an inventor, Franquelo developed the Lucida 3D scanner, a pioneering technology used at the Prado Museum and other institutions like the National Gallery and the tombs of pharaohs in Egypt, for the conservation of artworks and heritage. A childhood friend emotionally compared him to 'our Leonardo Da Vinci'.
