Photos: Sergio Betancort
Arrecife Town Council presented this Wednesday the poster announcing the 2019 Carnival, dedicated to César Manrique and starring an image provided by the Foundation responsible for the intellectual and artistic legacy.
The mask was made in 1987 by the Lanzarote creator using mixed media/methacrylate. Although the original work includes a pair of faces, the Department of Culture has opted for the female faction, "something more colourful and complex in its elements".
The mayoress Eva de Anta has thanked "the predisposition from the first moment of the César Manrique Foundation (FCM) to give the work and dedicate the festival to the artist in his first centenary". "Arrecife has the opportunity to settle the historical debt it has with the artist and we are starting with the Carnival", she pointed out.
"From Arrecife Town Council we have opted to also vindicate the more festive side of César Manrique's polyhedral personality in the celebration of his hundredth birthday", pointed out the councillor for Festivities, David Duarte, who defended the "joint" work of the administrations with entities and groups in the programme of events linked to the event.
The choice of the town crier and the stages will also be inspired by César
Arrecife will not only dedicate the Carnivals to his figure with the choice of his works for the poster announcing it, but other elements of the festivities will be inspired by César's career and creative universe, such as the design of stages or the choice of the town crier.
According to the FCM, the mask, as an expressive procedure, is a recurring resource in César Manrique's career: "He used it assiduously in the celebration of Carnival, an event of which he was a great enthusiast and where he displayed his playful creativity. He also approached it as a manifestation of his plastic work, holding some exhibitions under the heading of African Masks". In 1985, a mask by the artist was the image of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival poster.
