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Show The Delicate Artistry of 'Manuel de Arce Now at KAC story and photos by Anne L. ' Burnett The Kimball Art Center may have come close to outdoing itself with its latest showing. On display are the works of Manuel de Arce and bronze sculptor Lorenzo Ghiglieri. The excellence of Ghiglier-i's Ghiglier-i's pieces is at once visible. Though the collection on display is limited it includes an exceptional piece devoted to the old lawman "ranger" and an example of a piece now owned by President Reagan. But it is the delicate work of Manuel de Arce that dominates domi-nates the show, de Arce was in Park City for the show's Sunday opening. He said he was "extremely pleased" with his Park City reception and he has already taken a number of local photographs to be used for future works. de Arce talked freely about his origins as an artist. He was born and raised in Spain where he began painting in oils at the age of 17. He received a scholarship to study art in Paris and later in Germany but he explained he felt restricted by the traditional forms in which he had to work. It was the search for "absolute freedom" free-dom" in his art that brought de Arce to San Francisco in 1963. It was there he met his beloved potter Mona. It was Mona who introduced intro-duced him to watercolors and then colored pencils, de Arce spends hours, normally twenty at a time, working on his drawings. He says his -: . "-. " : - n I J y I Artist Manuel de Arce U r' 5 - ' - f; ; ' - 1 ! s f . ' '' --" .- y r ' f .'. A closeup of "Poppies" reveals de Arce?s painstaking technique. work is enough for him and he may go as long as six or seven months without seeing anyone other than Mona. His biggest complaint is that he can't get paper big enough to try even larger pieces but he says he's working on it. de Arce credits his move to the U.S. as the single most important change in his development as an artist. He currently lives in the Palm Springs desert which he said lias also been important to iiis art. It's the desert that inspired him to fantasize with mother nature. The KAC show illustrate?, those fantasies but in his latest piece "Metamorphosis" de Arce has included a human figure which he says is an example of his newest direction. "When I moved to the desert I was only doing Please turn to page 2B 1 The desert and unusual objects - de Arce's art speaks for itself. - 3Sry",i"r" t " '"' . :'' ' 1 i ' j - " i 1 Si y . ." " X ' j ! ; - A bronze Cfigle by Lorenzo Ghiglieri - this one's identical to the one lPre sident Reagan owns. More de Arce Continued !rom Page 1B natural things now after living tour years outside Palm Springs I decided to go back and paint figures again but now I see them more as human beings instead of nationalities," says de Arce. de Arce says he doesn't regret learning the ways of the greatmasters and in fact, when he was younger, he says he too shared the dream of his works hanging in the famous Louvre. "As a student I wanted to be next to Goya, next to Michael-angelo Michael-angelo next to all the big guys and I think it's the dream of everybody to be looking for that identification. identifica-tion. Today what really satisfies me is the freedom and happiness as a human being. When I am working I feel as though I'm in paradise and I'm working 70 hours a week or more but I don't no ice that I'm working. work-ing. Sometimes I think I'm more like a child playing at color," he explains. He says he feels it's more important to make an impression im-pression on the people of the world of how beautiful the earth is and his work evokes a sort of peaceful happiness through simple, clean and uncomplicated lines. The artist himself is quick to use the word fantasy when referring to his work. "I think the southwest is a land of fantasy. That's what happens to me, I went and I felt it. I don't need to read a book of wonderland I just need to go up and down these states and I'm in it," explains de Arce. The world's greatest artists have come mostly from the romantic European countries and de Arce agrees thai hasn't happened for somf time. When asked if the political turmoil in Europe has created an atmosphere where artists must leave Europe in order to develop, de Arce explained. "T think for an artist it's very important to go beyond a nationality otherwise they produce almost propaganda art. If a person Daints for only his belief because he has been educated by tradition tradi-tion then by history it's only a form of way of seeing lies and creates a limitation. As an artist it was much better for me to come to the U.S. and free myself completely of anything that leads me to see things in that particular way." de Arce says his art is an important part of his expression expres-sion as a human being because "with my eyes I see color and I'm fascinated by it." Indeed, he says after 32 years of painting he still discovers surprises as he works putting hue upon hue in his delicate pencil work. "There's always a new color for me," acknowledges de Arce who is intrigued enough to spend up to 70 hours or more on a single painting. de Arce's work will be available to Parkites for the next few weeks at the art center but the artist says he hopes to be painting his optimistic images for another 50 years. Even if you can't afford to purchase one of de Arce's pieces allow yourself the time to study and enjoy this really enchanting display dis-play from a gentle, unassuming unassum-ing and totally charming artist. The Park City exhibit is being sponsored by Polly and Edgar Stern. |