DePaul Art Museum > Exhibitions > inigo-manglano-ovalle

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing

​​​​​​​​​September 11, 2025—February 8, 2026


Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s (b. 1961) current practice creates objects that blur the line between art and utility, inviting viewers to meditate on the role and “usefulness” of art in society. His approach challenges notions of function, beauty, and purpose in art by making works that resemble utilitarian objects but often serve no conventional practical purpose—or, alternatively, reveal surprising functionality that critiques broader sociopolitical or environmental concerns. What runs through the exhibition is to be wary of metaphor. For Manglano-Ovalle function itself becomes a mode of critique—against the assumption that art must always offer clarity, comfort or even legibility.

“At this point in my life, I want for nothing,” said Manglano-Ovalle. It is not a statement of resignation, nor a claim to contentment. It is, instead, an articulation of arrival—a place where ambition has been tempered by experience, and desire has been clarified through distance. “What I really want is to want nothing,” he added. Not to escape the world, but to shed the weight of wanting something from it. We may, in fact, have run out of ideas—and that, he suggests, may be a generative place to begin again.​​

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing is curated by Ionit Behar, PhD, and organized by DePaul Art Museum. This exhibition is made possible through support by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Abby Pucker, Jack and Sandra Guthman, and Vector Custom Fabricating.

Image credit: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Untitled, 2023. Pine and graphite. Courtesy of the artist. 

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