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Manuel Sáez (born in 1961, Castellón) is a Spanish artist that belongs to the generation of artists that emerged in the 1980s. Since 1984, he has been living and working in Valencia.

Biography
According to the European-American Universal Illustrated Encyclopaedia, Manuel Sáez is considered one of the most significant painters of the turn of this new century, whose approach to the world of objects, landscapes, figures and portraits is both sensual and psychological.

In the 1980s he worked in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid. It is during this period that the artist carefully examined and deepened his knowledge of the history of the ludic image in painting through a refined language consisting of elements from comics, the media and the History of Art.

The series Calvos, Bodegones, Arboles, Aviones and Arquitecturas belong to this period. In 1990, as a resident fellow at the Spanish Fine Arts Academy in Rome, he elaborated a series of portraits called Biografia no autorizada. During 1992 he completed the series Dioptrias and in 1993 the series Aquiles. In 1995 he moved to the Dominican Republic to draw and paint objects originating from the tropical landscape which were exhibited a year later at the University of Valencia. Since 2004 his work has centred on an increasingly refined study of drawing and in the series of portraits begun in 1990.

Manuel Sáez has exhibited in various museums and private institutions. In 1991 in the Fundació La Caixa in Valencia. In 1996 he presented his first retrospective, Colección Exclusiva 1984-1995, in the Club Diario Levante de Valencia, in the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, in the Salas Verónicas de Murcia, in the diputación de Castellón and the Brocense de Cáceres. In 2000 he exhibited in the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City and in the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM) in Valencia. In 2008 in the Sala Parpalló in Valencia.

He has participated in major group exhibitions. In 1988-89, Modos de ver in the Circulo de Bellas Ares de Madrid, in the Pabellón Mudéjar in Seville, in the Centro de Arte Santa Mónica in Barcelona and the IVAM – Centro del Carmen in Valencia. In 1994, Galería de retratos in the Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid. In 1996, Corona roja sobre el volcán in the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In 1994-95, ''Confrontaciones. Los entornos de la imagen'' in the Museo Nacional de Antropología de Madrid. In 2000-01, Garaje in the Fundación Carlos de Amberes de Madrid and in the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea. In 2002, ''Plural. El Arte español ante el siglo XXI'' in the Senado de España in Madrid. In 2003, 50 años de arte valenciano in the Atarazanas in Valencia. In 2003-04, Dispersions in the Bass Museum of Art in Miami. In 2007, El Pop Art en la Colección del IVAM in Valencia.

Manuel Sáez has undertaken various projects, the highlight of which is the 1,884m2 ceramic mosaic covering the circular main square (Àgora) at the University of Jaime I in Castellón. He has obtained numerous grants and awards including the Salón de Otoño de Sagunto, 1983; the Creación Artística Banesto grant, 1989; the Spanish Fine Arts Academy of Rome fellowship, 1990 ; the Icarus Prize Group 16, Madrid 1990.

Works and Projects
Sáez has developed a personal aesthetic characterized by a refined drawing technique with which he elaborates a continual examination of colour, figure, nature and the object world. His work is characterized by a poetry which expresses the everyday and the intimate. Both critics and artists haven’t hesitated to speak about him: Quico Rivas, Victoria Combalia, Katia Carcia-Antón, William Jeffett, Guillermo Pérez Villalta, Kenny Scharf, Juan Manuel Bonet, Nicolás Sanchez Durá, Salvador Albiñana, Teresa Blanch, Aurora Gracía, Nuria Enguita, y Omar Calabrese.

Portraits and Illustrations
In 1990, at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, he began the series Retratos (Portraits). A series that is still on-going and features personalities from many different disciplines such as Francisco Brines, Vicente Gallego, Carlos Marzal, Albert Oehlen, Antoni Miralda, Andreu Alfaro, Jordi Teixidor, Carmen Alborch, Carmen Calvo Sáenz de Tejada, Carlos Pazos, José Maria Sicilia, Juanjo Estellés, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Ana de Miguel or Rosa Ulpiano. Among his illustrations for books, the highlights are those realised for the book of poems Ánima Mía by Carlos Marzal in 2009, or the short story by Bernardo Atxaga for the magazine Ronda Iberia in 1994.

The Àgora mosaic at the University of Jaime I in Castellón
In 2003 he completed a mosaic measuring 1,848 square metres and consisting of 13,046 pieces 33x33cm, and 14,884 pieces 16.25 x 16.25 cm in white and blue stoneware for the circular main square (Àgora) at the University of Jaime I in Castellón. The image represents a white glove as a symbol of knowledge.

Works in Museums and Collections

 * Academia Española de Bellas Artes, Rome.
 * Fundación Telefónica, Madrid.
 * Banco de España, Madrid.
 * Fundación Argentaria, Madrid.
 * Fundanció “La Caixa”, Barcelona.
 * Museo de Bellas Artes de Castellón.
 * Ayuntamiento de Castellón.
 * Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Villafamés.
 * Bancaja, Valencia.
 * Colección Renfe, Valencia.
 * Generalitat Valenciana.
 * Caja Postal, Madrid.
 * Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, IVAM, Valencia.
 * Banco Español de Crédito, Madrid.
 * Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Madrid.
 * Fundación Coca-Cola, Madrid.
 * Universitat de València.
 * Fundación Prosegur, Madrid.
 * Cortes Valencianas, Valencia.
 * Colegio de Arquitectos de Castellón.
 * Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.
 * Universitat Jaume I, Castellón.
 * Museo de Bellas Artes San Pio V, Valencia.
 * Diputación de Valencia.