UNITED BUDDY BEARS SHOW - Sofia 2011

* 20.12.1951 in Caracas/Venezuela
1967-71 University of Art "Cristobal Rojas", Caracas
1973 Worked on the exhibition "Vision de Venezuela"
1984 Student at the Fachhochschule for Art and Design, Cologne
1987 Moved into a studio in the "Bürgerhaus Stollwerck", Cologne
Exhibitions a.o. in Caracas/Venezuela, Cologne, Bonn, Bochum, Cuxhaven, Düsseldorf, Pratt Graphic Center/New York, Galerie Le Monde de L'Art/Paris, etc.

Experiences from the past and hopes for the future form human beings. Common experiences and common hopes unite them into a nation. People of a nation can name their lived experiences. Their creative, yet to be lived hopes are shown by Carlos Manrique through signs and music notes.
The history of nations is a story of war and peace. Past time often seems to be a chain of battles for the liberation from power and dependency. This side is dark. In the case of Venezuela the darkness is the experience with the foreign power of the conquistadors. But Venezuela managed to escape from the darkness into the light, because Venezuela, in spite of or maybe because of this experience, was the first democracy on the South American continent.
Analogue to this the artist shows the Venezuelan bear as a figure that steps from the shadow into the light - like children that are still unburdened by the shadows of the past, he is standing in the light of hope.
Everything merges in the contrast. Because the night is also the place of dreams. And the shadow is the source of water that gives life.
Carlos Manrique