MANUEL MATEO CUENCA (La peraleja, Cuenca ,1951)."El peinado".Bronze and stone base. Exemplary 2/8.Enclosed author's certificate.CAPA FoundationSigned and justified.Measurements: 29,5 x 13,5 x 18 cm; 5 x 11 x 14,5 cm (base).Round work made in bronze where he plays with the combination of empty spaces, transparency, lightness and solidity. In such a way that it reminds the spectator of the sculpture Apollinaire wrote about. The author thus demonstrates that "his artistic premises are linked to a whole range of cultural problems with deep European roots which have been with us since the end of the 19th century and which are continually enriched with new contributions in the 20th century", as Sanchez Rojas Fenol points out in relation to the work of Mateo Cuenca. Manuel Mateo Cuenca began his artistic training in his youth and worked with artists such as Antonio Galán del Amo, José Carrilero, Venancio Blanco, Joaquín García Donaire, José Castro Llamas, Cristino Mallo, Otero Besteiro, Jesús Valverde, Pablo Palazuelo. He began to exhibit in 1973 when he held a group exhibition at the Banco Americano (Ameribank) in Madrid. He also exhibited at the Tolmo Gallery in Toledo, and that same year he was awarded the National Salcillo Prize in Murcia. With regard to his first individual exhibition in 2000, in the Ra del Rey gallery in Madrid, it is worth mentioning that the artist already had a long career as an exhibitor. Both nationally and internationally, with his participation in exhibitions such as Avant Premiere. Capa Esculturas, Brussels in 2015, Affordable Art Fair London Spring Edition, London in 2008 or Estampa, the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art Printmaking and Publishing. Capa Sculptures. Madrid in 2004 among others. These exhibitions, which have confirmed his artistic recognition, have been followed by various awards, such as the II Prize for Sculpture at the II International Biennial El Baloncesto en las Bellas Artes in 2000, the XXVII Special Mention for Sculpture, the Plastic Arts Competition in Getafe, (Madrid) in 1979, the gold medal at the XVIII National Sculpture Exhibition and the Julio Antonio Prize, Tarragona in 1974, among many others. Nowadays his works are divided in different private collections such as the Ros Urigüen collections (Madrid), and many artistic centres of great cultural relevance among which the Diputación de Cuenca, the Pedro Ferrándiz Foundation in Madrid, the Eduardo Capa Foundation in Alicante, the Ministry of Culture in Madrid, the Reina Sofía Museum and the Museum of Cuenca stand out, his work is characterised by an approach to geometric constructivism that is never confused with a rigid schematism. Even in his most voluptuous volumes, line, light or shadow, and sometimes the hollow, mark a geometric counterpoint that orders and gathers the composition and enriches his points of view. Through an expressive and successful play of volumes and lines, of tones and textures, of supports and challenges to gravity, Manuel Mateo's sculpture transmits an artistic serenity that is instantly transmitted to the spectator. Within a stylistic schematism that inevitably recalls the avant-garde movements of the last century.