Manuel M. Romero’s work centers on the mark as both a spatial and temporal reference. A mark fixes a place and delimits a territory, while at the same time projecting a future return, functioning as a rehearsal for time to come. His work is self-referential, constantly alluding to its own creative process, constantly studying composition, rhythms, tensions, and textures.
Romero prefers working with oil, a material with long drying times which allows for multiple revisions. A material susceptible to change, Romero invites the accidents, chances and repetition of elements. He never works with sketches, and often paints both vertically and hoizontally, or on the floor, painting from above.
Romero’s works evoke a dense and layered sense of time, built from accumulated memories that demand slowness, attention, and duration. A constant tension unfolds between the power of large, materially charged surfaces that impose themselves in space and the subtle, sometimes barely perceptible traces and residues that absorb the viewer’s gaze.
They establish a relationship that approaches the sculptural, overflowing the flatness of the wall through their material density, layered surfaces, and physical formats. As a result, they challenge the conventional boundaries of painting, operating as spatial presences as much as images.
Manuel M. Romero (born Sevilla, 1993) is a contemporary Spanish painter whose work explores abstraction, visual silence, and the essential elements of painting itself. He holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Sevilla.
Romero has presented solo exhibitions at institutions and galleries including Galerie Filiale, Frankfurt, Galería Juan Silió, Madrid (both 2025), Centro Párraga, Murcia, (2024), and Artnueve, Murcia, (2021), and has participated in international art fairs such as ARCO Madrid, ARCO Lisboa, and Art Brussels. His work has also been included in significant group exhibitions in museum contexts, such as at the Museo Arqueológico de Murcia, (2025) and CCCC Valencia (2024). His paintings form part of prominent public and private collections including the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC), Fundación Cisneros Fontanal, DKV, Colección Bragales, Colección Kells, Colección Yera, Colección Carmen & Lluís Bassat, and Colección SCAN.
