Manuel Nunez

Manuel Nunez

Manuel Nunez finds a spiritual beauty in his subjects that shines through all of his artwork. Like artists since the beginning of historical records, in the beauty of the female form he sees evidence of heavenly grace.

"My images are of strong women," Nunez says. "Women who are sensual and virtuous, wrestling with the underlying conflict of what life is versus what it should be."

Manuel Nunez was born in 1956, into a family versed in the arts and Latino culture. His father, Manuel Nunez, Sr., was a well known singer and songwriter, who recorded nine Spanish language albums in the 1950's. "I listen to his music all of the time, but it's only now that I really appreciate his music and what he was doing with it."

The use of his trademark--a hand-applied 23 karat gold leaf--is indicative of the spiritual roots of the artist and its interpolation into his work. "The gold itself is a dichotomy," he explains. "Gold can, at the same time, symbolize decadence or indulgence and the righteous purity shown in Russian icon art."

In Nunez' work, these disparate elements reign in conjunction with each other, as does the feminine mystique which combines virtue and sensuality--love and lust coexisting within the compositional expression as they cohabit the body and soul in life.

Nunez has taught at both the Otis Parsons Institute in Los Angeles, and The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, which he also attended.

Currently, Nunez lives with his wife and three children in southern California.

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