Francisco Mantecón was born in Vigo in 1948.
After graduating from Barcelona´s San Jorge Art School, he was involved in over 100 individual and group exhibitions, dividing his time between teaching and creative work.
Things they said about him:
Xosé Mª Alvarez Cáccamo
"Un home expansivamente amoroso e fraternal ... A súa man era un bisturí infalibel, virtuoso apéndice de poeta xeómetra"
[An expansively affectionate and brotherly man ... his hand was an unfailing, virtuoso scalpel, the appendix of a poet geometrician.]
Ramiro Ponte
"Como Loost, a sua loita pictórica era contra o ornamento. Creo que nunca coñecín a outro pintor tan teimosamente antifigurativo que fose quen de debuxar tan ben como el o facía"
[We Loost, his pictorial struggle was against ornamentation. I don't think I have ever known such a staunchly anti-figurative painter who could draw as well as he did.]
X. L. Méndez Ferrín
"Foi un grande artista do noso tempo, no que a intelixencia nunca permitíu nin o caos nin o xesto innecesario. Construíu unha plástica contudente, robusta e severamente meditada"
[He was one of the greatest artists of our time, whose intelligence never allowed him to fall into chaos or unnecessary gestures. He made art that was hard-hitting, robust and deeply thought out.]
Carlos Casares
"Era un home de trato cordial, con cara de despiste, interesado en moitas cousas: arte, literatura, fotografía, política"
[He was a kindly man, with an absent-minded look to hom, who was interested in many things: art, literature, photography and politics.]
Fernando Franco
"Polemista, encaixador, malhumorado fugaz, introvertido ás veces, tenro no íntimo, amigo dos amigos"
[Controversial, surly, bad-tempered, flyghty, sometimes introvert, tender deep down, and a good friend to his friends.]
Things he said:
"Quero facer miña a frase de Georges Braque "j´aime le regle que corrige l´emotion".
[I want to make Georges Braque's phrase my own: "j´aime le regle que corrige l´emotion"]
"Tengo unha arte meditada e premeditada. Reflexiva"
[My art is meditative and pre-meditated. Reflexive]
"A pintura remata en si mesma, o deseño forma parte dunha engranxe industrial"
[A painting is an end in itself, a drawing is a piece of industrial gearing]
"O meu interés pola xeometría ten que ver coas matemáticas, ca música ... Uso as transformacións xeométricas para xogar con planos e motiva-la percepción espacial"
[My interest in geometry is related to mathematics, music... I use geometrical transformations to play with planes and stimulate spacial perception]
A small sample of his works::