"Although in painting, Manuel Riquelme achieves notable achievements for the originality of the subject and his good level of treatment of the plans, it is in his drawing, where we believe, that his poetic power and multiplicity of suggestions lie.

These drawings evoke familiar scenes, objects or landscapes that are dear to him and whose execution corresponds to the affection and admiration for the chosen subject. Remarkable is the landscape,with trees, whose presence on the horizon reaches dimensional solemnity realized by the minuteness of the objects scattered on the ground in the foreground. In his painting, the forms are defined in planes similar to the effects of a stained glass window and what in his drawings reveal a nature at the moment of being made, in the paintings a desire for two-dimensionality and concreteness acts.

We salute this young artist who we do not doubt will occupy a prominent place in Chilean art."

Mario Toral
Dean of the Faculty of Art
Finis Terrae University