Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga honors Manuel Franquelo with posthumous exhibition

Two years after his death, the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga presents "El lenguaje de las cosas" (The Language of Things), a posthumous tribute to Manuel Franquelo (1953–2025). The exhibition, held in the museum's Espacio Artesonado, features fourteen prints from his 2002 series of the same name plus two photographic prints. Franquelo abandoned engineering studies to train at the Complutense University's Fine Arts faculty, initially painting before turning to photography in the early 1990s. Often labeled a photorealist, he focused on the ordinary and overlooked, resisting heroic or spectacular art. His output was deliberately small: only six paintings (1985–1993) and this single graphic series, for which he won the Premio Nacional de Grabado in 1988. The prints depict objects from his studio, created using multiple plates from photographs taken with a Kodak 9×12 cm camera and Polaroid film, then transferred to copper plates via photo-etching and worked with abrasive techniques and drypoint. Franquelo once stated in Tendencias del Arte: "I have tried to subsist with a modest share of attention in order to have the time and freedom to build some resistances and micro-revolutions." The exhibition runs from June 12 to October 12, 2026.