Manel Anoro

In the wild and joyous crowds filling the streets of Barcelona the night that Francisco Franco died in 1975, a 30-year-old celebrant unknowingly faced his future liberation. In his case, it would be from self-imposed suppression. In the name of security, he would spend an additional five years working to support his family as a computer scientist, then leave his job to dedicate his life to painting.

Two keys unlock a full appreciation of the artist and his work. One is understanding that Manel Anoro is very much an extension of that most Catalan city, Barcelona. His work transcends whimsy and fantasy in joyous defiance of tradition, while never losing its structure and tone. The other is realizing that his paintings extend the artistic ideals of the great masters of Fauvism. Anoro works out of his studio on the Costa Brava, in the heart of Catalunya, Spain, reveling in unique bohemian practicality that has spawned several original artists. Some of the modern art's greatest minds were inspired in Catalunya: Salvador Dali, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. Anoro draws from the creative spirit of Catalunya and earlier French masters. From the Fauvists, he borrows the discordant palette and bold lines that rocked the French Academy in 1905.

Anoro's vibrant hues startle the eye, yet combine in exquisite pleasurable harmony. His images are ripe and voluptuous. Anoro blends the virtues of Catalan's common sensibility with nonrational emotions, also an apt definition of his native Barcelona.